The Interregional Committee against Torture representing Mr. Sadykov’s interests has learnt that the European Court has rendered the application “Sadykov vs. Russia” admissible. Mr. Sadykov was brutally tortured in Chechnya by the police and military in 2000.

During his detention in the Oktyabrskiy district remand prison of Grozniy Mr. Sadykov was repeatedly tortured. Most often he was simply beaten with no reason, but sometimes the tortures became quite sophisticated. E.g. on 11 March 2000 the police battered Mr. Sadykov then handcuffed him and put on the floor saying that they were going to cut his head off. One of the officers took a knife and cut off the victim’s left ear.

The tortured lasted more than 3 months. Finally, the police released Aklaudin without any charge against him.

The national investigation that has been on the way for 8 years is not yet finalized. Having conducted a public investigation, the Committee against Torture where Alaudin applied for help has concluded that the actions of the police breached Article 3 of the European Convention on human rights and fundamental freedoms. The state’s actions also allegedly violate Art. 5 of the ECHR. The Prosecutor’s office allegedly violated Article 13 of the ECHR – lack of effective investigation into a torture complaint. The Committee has lodged an application with the European Court. The admissibility decision right now means that Sadykov’s application complies with the Court’s criteria and will soon be tried on the merits. In other words, Russia will have to explain why Alaudin Sadykov was tortured and why its representatives violated the European Convention.