Today specialists of the Interregional Committee against Torture have sent an application to the ECtHR upon the fact of Mr. Timin’s death in the remand prison of Oktyabrsky (Republic of Bashkiria) under unascertained circumstances.  

You may remember that suspect Mikhail Timin was detained on 10 March 2004. Already on 13 March around 6:30 a.m. his dead body was found in cell no.10 of the remand prison under the Department of Internal Affairs.

The Department of Internal Affairs conducted an official check which resulted in bringing several remand prison officials to disciplinary responsibility. But the prosecutorial investigation turned out to be ineffective. For several years the investigation authorities went on issuing refusals to open criminal proceedings which were later cancelled by higher-standing officials or were rendered unlawful by the court. In five years the case has come to a dead-end. It is now impossible to carry out the majority of investigative actions and it is not surprising that the city and republican courts have found another refusal to start a criminal case lawful. Now it is up to the European Court to consider the circumstances of Mr. Timin’s death and, equally important, to assess the official investigation quality.