Yesterday, on May 13, 2008 the Supreme Court of Bashkiria approved the statement of the Prosecutor’s office of Bashkiria issued in connection with the Blagoveschensk district court judgment to return the case to the Prosecutor’s office to eliminate the defects. Thus, the criminal case against the heads of the Blagoveschensk Department of Internal affairs and SPF company commander goes back to the Blagoveschensk district court for retrial from the moment of preliminary hearings.

You may remember that hearing of the criminal case about complex human rights violations in Blagoveschensk resulting from “preventive” police operations of December 2004 started in 2005. Since then the case has been divided into four parts: three proceedings against low-rank policemen and one case against higher-standing officers.

Specialists of the committee against Torture who have conducted a public investigation of the tragic events in the Bashkirian town represent the victims’ interests in court.

Earlier the Blagoveschensk district court of Bashkiria sentenced Blagoveschensk Department of Internal Affairs officer Mr. Yuriy Golovin to 3 years conditionally on 1-year probation and prohibited him to work in law enforcement and municipal bodies for 1 year. The court found that Mr. Yuriy Golovin had committed a crime under cl. “a,b” of p.3 article 286 of the RF Criminal Code (excess of official powers with violent treatment and application of special tools). On December 10, 2004, at about midnight, Mr. Golovin was in a detention centre unlawfully created on the basis of a detoxification centre in the Blagoveschensk Department of Internal Affairs where the police kept people detained in course of the so-called preventive activities. In that room Mr. Golovin intentionally struck Mr. Peskov at least three times on his legs and body with a rubber club.