Photo: Natalia Stryomina with her husband Evgeny.

   The notorious cases of rape and beat-up in the Arzamas medical detoxification centre will be combined and investigated.

Yesterday the Arzamas city court of Nizhny Novgorod region heard Natalia Stryomina’s appeal against the refusal to start criminal proceedings under her application. You may remember that on 8 July 2009 the Arzamas city court adjudicated that the check under Natalia’s application had been complete and there were no grounds to institute another check. The Nizhny Novgorod regional court cancelled that ruling mentioning a series of errors committed by the investigator performing the check. The case file was returned to the Arzamas city court.

This time the Investigation Committee under the Prosecutor’s Office did not want to push luck one more time and cancelled the refusal to open a criminal case themselves. According to the representative of the Arzamas Interdistrict Investigation Department, the materials collected in connection with Ms. Stryomina’s battery and alleged rape will be combined and checked jointly.

Natalia Stryomina applied to the Interregional Committee against Torture claiming that at night on 25-26 April 2009 she had been raped by some officer in the Arzamas medical detoxification centre. Besides, the woman claims that she was tortured on a rack and battered. The investigation conducted by the Committee showed that Natalia could really be a victim of police abuse.  

At present the CAT continues legally supporting Natalia.