On April 18 the Sovietsky district court of Nizhny Novgorod sustained Alexander Dmitriyev’s claim for moral damages incurred by unlawful deprivation of liberty. The court awarded the victim 6 thousand rubles out of the 30 thousand rubles claim, to be paid from the state budget. The state will have to make this payment due to serious human rights violations committed by the police.
“We hope that the compensation amount will not be decreased in the second instance. As illustrated by our practice in Nizhny Novgorod region, the cassation instance, apparently in an effort to save the budget, constantly decreases compensation awards”, – CAT lawyer Dmity Laptev representing the victim said.
You may remember that in March 2011 Alexander Dmitriyev was unlawfully detained by agents of the 7th police department under the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Directorate of the Interior for more than 3 hours without any legal grounds and in connection with a fabricated charge of obstructing the police. Subsequently he was tortured for the purpose of obtaining a confession to theft from him. The victim was later taken to hospital and diagnosed with a concussion and fracture of two vertebrae. Mr. Dmitriyev still has serious health problems originating from that injury and is incapable of making his and his family’s living.
Meanwhile, criminal proceedings against law enforcers were terminated by investigator A.A.Rotkov who failed to disclose elements of a crime in the actions of the police. The investigator found the version of the police claiming that having given the required confession, Dmitriyev had suddenly decided to escape, stumbled on the stairs and fallen down, logical and trustworthy. The Committee Against Torture is preparing an appeal against that decision.
It must be also mentioned that unlawful detention is customary practice of the Nizhny Novgorod police. CAT lawyers have many times successfully contested such actions of law enforcers in courts, including detentions of Lilia Gremina and Nikita Kaftasyev. Complaints about massive unlawful detentions during the procession “For Fair Elections” of March 10, 2012 are pending.