Photo: major Sharafutdinov.

   The Bashkirian Supreme Court has sustained the appeal of the Committee against Torture and cancelled the verdict that the CAT had found unlawful.

   Today the criminal division of the Bashkirian Supreme Court cancelled the verdict against police major Ayrat Sharafutdinov.

On 1 July 2009 the Oktyabrsky city court (Bashkiria) found major Sharafutdinov innocent of six charges and acquitted him. The court found the major guilty of two charges and sentenced him to 3 years and 6 months of imprisonment.

You may remember that Sharafutdinov was charged with 8 crimes connected to abuse of office and tortures.

Lawyers of the Bashkirian representation of the Committee against Torture representing the victims’ interests found the verdict unlawful and ill-founded. They filed a cassation appeal to cancel the verdict because the court’s deliberations were manifestedly contradicting the circumstances of the case.