Lawyers of interregional non-governmental organization «The Committee for Prevention of Torture» have lodged a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights in the interests of Murad Amriyev from the Chechen Republic. Human rights defenders think that a number of articles of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms are violated in his regard, including the ones prohibiting torture and providing the right for legal remedy.
(Murad Amriyev with traces of bodily injuries, photo made on 28 August 2013)
As we have previously reported, in September 2013 Murad Amriyev applied to Joint Mobile Group of human rights defenders working in the Chechen Republic (JMG), for legal assistance, informing that on Sunday evening of 25 August 2013 he gave his father a lift to the center of the city where they parted, and in a few minutes his car was car was blocked by a black «Lada-Priora». Three men ran out, pushed Murad into their car with his T-shirt pulled over his face and drove him away.
Mr Amriev asserts that for two days the police officers were beating him up and torturing him with electricity, demanding that he bore false witness against his brother, who was living abroad. After the beating Murad was taken home to his parents, laying down a condition that the elder brother should return to Chechnya. Due to fear for his life he had to leave the Republic.
Lawyers of the Joint Mobile Group, representing the interests of the applicant, reported about a crime against Murad Amriyev to the regional Investigative Committee. The law-enforcement authorities refused to initiate a criminal case based on this application. Totally thirty «refusals» were issued in relation to this case, which were subsequently quashed as illegal and ungrounded. At the same time the investigators never provided assessment of Murad’s bodily injuries and explanation of how he got them, although human rights defenders repeatedly pointed at that in all of their complaints.
Murad Amriyev’s representative in the European Court of Human Rights Anton Ryzhov emphasizes: «The police officers claim that Murad was released from custody right after the «conversation», however, numerous witnesses say that the police officers brought Murad home in a beaten up state. Russian authorities abstained from commenting on this contradiction».
«Despite the complaint lodged with the European Court we will continue to insist on the effective investigation at the national level. We intend to appeal against the last refusal to initiate criminal proceedings after we are able to familiarize with the materials of the check», – JMG lawyer Oleg Khabibrakhmanov commented.м