You may remember that at night on 4-5 July 2008 at the Rubezh police check point located on the border of Mariy El and Tatarstan major Mikhailov who was on duty that day stopped a vehicle and prepared an administrative offense protocol for the driver. The driver found the accusations unjustified and complained to the department of Internal Affairs saying that the traffic police officer had behaved inadequately.  After that captain Artyom Turanov from the Volzhsk Department of Internal Affairs went to the check point with an inspection. He suggested that Mikhailov should come off duty and have a rest because he looked exhausted. However, the major took out his Makarov gun and shot at the inspector twice. Then he fired at his mate, lieutenant Dmitry Lebedev, and when he fell down he shot him in the forehead. Lieutenant Lebedev died on the spot, captain Turanov was taken to hospital and survived.

On 24 July 2009 the Supreme Court of Mariy El convicted senior traffic police inspector Vasiliy Mikhailov. He was found guilty under p.1 art. 105 (murder) and p.3 art. 30, cl. “a”, p.2 art. 105 (attempted murder of 2 people) of the RF Criminal Code. The court sentenced Mikhailov to 15 years of imprisonment in an increased security penal colony.

When the verdict entered into force Lyudmila Lebedeva lodged a civil suit with the Yoshkar-Ola city court claiming compensation of moral damage incurred by the unlawful actions of the police officer.

On 26 February 2010 the Yoshkar-Ola city court of Mariy El heard the civil suit against the Mariy El Finance Ministry filed by Lyudmila Lebedeva to obtain compensation of moral damage. The court awarded her 280 000 rubles for the death of her son killed in discharge of his duty by his mate.

In April 2010 the Mariy El Finance Ministry received a payment request. A little more than a month later the debt was settled. However, it is too early to draw the line under this case. At present the Yoshkar-Ola city court considers the suits claiming compensation of moral damage submitted by late Dmitry Lebedev’s father and brother who also suffered from the loss of their family member. The hearing is scheduled for June 28, 2010.  

The public investigation under the case of Lyudmila Lebedeva was conducted jointly by Regional NGO “Man and Law” and INGO “Committee against Torture” (Nizhny Novgorod).