(Photo: Sergey Sysouyev)
The criminal case against the police officer who beat up Sergey Sysouyev detained in July of this year, was transferred to the Leninsky District Court of Nizhny Novgorod. The defendant pleaded guilty to the crime and repented what he had done.
As we have previously reported, on 16 July 2015 Sergey Sysouyev applied to INGO «The Committee Against Torture» for legal assistance. Sergey told the human rights defenders that on 14 July of this year at about 3 a.m. he was detained by the police officers in the apartment of his girlfriend – her mother did not like the night visit of the young man. According to Sergey, the battery started in the police car and continued in the police department.
After some time Sergey complained to the control room officer that he felt unwell and asked to call for the doctors to provide medical assistance to him. Ambulance team which arrived at the police department urgently delivered Sergey to the City Hospital No.39. There he was diagnosed with bruises of the head’s soft tissues, cerebral concussion, partial rupture of forearm muscle, as well as hypodermic hematomas on the body. As a result of the sustained injuries Sysouyev had to spend a week in hospital.
In the course of the public investigation the human rights defenders received copies of Sysouyev’s medical documents, questioned the witnesses who confirmed that the victim had no bodily injuries before he was detained. At the initiative of the lawyers of the Committee Against Torture Sergey was subjected to forensic medical examination, in the course of which a contused wound of the head, numerous wounds on arms, feet and body were registered. Upon the human rights defenders motion these documents were attached to the materials of the check.
On 27 August of this year a criminal case was opened with regards to this fact against an officer of the Patrol-Guard Service. The latter agreed to cooperate with the investigation, having pleaded guilty to the crime.
The case is transferred for trial to the Leninsky District Court of Nizhny Novgorod.
Lawyer of the Committee for Prevention of Torture Evgeny Chilikov, who is going to represent the interests of Sergey Sysouyev in court: «The video surveillance camera record, timely seized by the investigator, has become key evidence in several torture cases already. That was the case this time, too. It is clearly seen in the record how the police officer hits the detained. I think that if investigators seized the records in every case just as fast as they did now, there would be a lot less complaints against the law-enforcement authorities».
It has to be noted that the police officer who is accused of torture has been already fired from the police. His workmate and Deputy Head of the Patrol-Guard Service Regiment are subjected to disciplinary action. The superiors of the Department if the Interior of Russia for the Nizhny Novgorod region obliged all the police officers of the Patrol-Guard Service to pass the unscheduled test on the regulations of the Federal law «On police» and the case of Sergey Sysouyev shall be analyzed with every Patrol Guard Service team during the briefing. We hope that these preventive measures will lead to good results.