We would like to remind you that Mariy El resident Elvira Kislitsina alleged that her underage son Artem Kislitsin had committed suicide together with his friends after being beaten by the police. On March 3, 2005 underage Artem Kislitsin and his two friends were interrogated in connection with theft of rabbits committed the day before. No legal representatives were present during the interrogation. Later Artem told his elder brother that the police had hit him in the solar plexus to make him confess to stealing rabbits. There was a search in Artem’s house during which the stolen rabbits were found.
On March 5, 2005 criminal proceedings were instigated on the allegations of theft. The guys were summoned to the questioning scheduled for March 9, 2005, however at night on 8-9 March 2005 the teenagers committed suicide. They left suicide notes in which they apologized to their relatives.
Criminal proceedings were instigated upon the fact of death, but on September 30, 2005 they were terminated. The investigation arrived at a conclusion that Artem and his friends had decided to die voluntarily and there had been no pressure put on them.
Elvira Kislitsina also applied to the Prosecutor’s Office claiming that Artem had had intravital injuries inflicted by the police, but the Prosecutor’s Office refused to initiate a criminal case. Besides, the investigation into the death of children did not meet any effectiveness criteria, and the applicant failed to get any compensation of moral damage.
With the help of the ICAT Elvira Kislitsina applied to the European Court of Human Rights in 2007.
At the beginning of the current year the ECtHR asked the Russian Government a series of questions with regard to this case. In response to the questions asked by the ECtHR, the Russian Government admitted violation of Kislitsina’s and her deceased son’s rights and breaches of Articles 2, 3, 14 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
The federal authorities proposed a friendly settlement to Ms. Kislitsina accepting the conditions of the ECtHR. The Court suggested that should Kislitsina receive 50 000 euros as compensation of moral damage. In June 2011 the friendly settlement agreement between Elvira Kislitsina and the Russian Government was signed and sent to the ECtHR.
Recently the European Court has delivered an official decision on termination of proceedings under this case. The Court has underlined that it is satisfied that the friendly settlement reached between the parties is based on respect for human rights. As stipulated in the decision, the payment of the compensation to Kislitsina will constitute the final resolution of the case.