Lawyer of the Committee for Prevention of Torture Sergey Romanov received an answer from the Acting Head of the Investigative Committee of the RF for the Nizhny Novgorod region Andrey Vinogradov concerning the results of the check conducted with regard to red tape committed by the Senior Investigator and the superiors of the Investigative Department for the Kanavinsky District of Nizhny Novgorod in the course of the check of Artem Belousov’s complaint about having been subjected to physical violence by the police officers in 2012. Based on the results of the check numerous cases of misconduct in office were revealed. Due to that the Deputy Had of the Investigative Department was fired, and the investigator was subjected to disciplinary action.
As we have previously reported, in October 2012 Artem Belousov from Nizhny Novgorod applied for legal assistance to the Committee Against Torture. According to the applicant, on 2 October of the same year the car in which Artem was in, was stopped by the police officers (there were about a dozen of them, including Special Police Force officers): one of the police officers pulled him out of the car and handcuffed him. The other officer, the police captain, pulled Artem aside and threw him over the hip, hit him in the groin area, after that the officer kicked him several times and ordered his colleague to sit on top of Artem.
As Artem recalls, he lay in this position on the ground for about an hour, all this time being pressed down by the Special Police Force officer. After that he was taken to the police department of the Kanavinsky District where a report on administrative violation was drawn up.
Artem spent about 24 hours in the cell for detainees apprehended for administrative violations. He was moved from cell to cell, and he told all his cellmates about what befell him. He was not given any food or drink, and never received a copy of the apprehension report. Later on the court convicted him to 24-hours administrative arrest for illicit possession of 0.64 grams of hashish with no intent to sell.
On 5 October 2012 Artem Belousov passed forensic medical examination, which registered «scratches on the neck, wrist joint area, intradermal hemorrhaging of the neck from the right».
After the incident Belousov submitted a crime report to the Investigative Department for the Kanavinsky District of Nizhny Novgorod. For three years of the pre-investigation check four illegal refusals to initiate criminal proceedings were issued, three of them by Senior Investigator Artem Nikitin, who repeatedly ignored the orders of the Prosecutor’s Office, as well as of his own superiors, to perform necessary checking activities.
On 22 October 2015 this became the reason for lawyer of INGO «The Committee for Prevention of Torture» Sergey Romanov, representing the interests of the applicant, to apply to the head of the regional Investigative Department asking to conduct an agency check with regards to the investigator, responsible for red tape, as well as his superiors who failed to perform duly supervision over their subordinate.
«I am satisfied with the reaction of the Head of the regional Investigative Committee who performed a check with regard to my application within the time limits stipulated by the law. It is very important that the faults in the work of the Investigative Department superiors, who failed to prevent the misconduct in office, were revealed, as well as the faults in the work of the investigator who performed the check. Based on the results of the agency response the Deputy Head of the Investigative Department was fired and the investigator was subjected to disciplinary action. In the present time an additional check is assigned with regard to Belousov’s complaint», – lawyer of the Committee for Prevention of Torture Sergey Romanov emphasized.