Arm fracture and a lot of bodily injuries received from the officers of State Traffic Safety Inspectorate, in the opinion of investigator from the Mary El Republic, do not amount to criminal event. That is exactly what is said in the ruling on dismissal of the criminal case against two officers of State Traffic Safety Inspectorate based on the fact of unlawful violence against Valentin Aleksandrov from the Mary El Republic, which was received yesterday by lawyers of the Committee Against Torture office in the Mary El Republic.
(Photo: Valentin Aleksandrov)
As we have already reported, on 26 February 2013 a citizen of Morki settlement Valentin Aleksandrov appealed to the office of INGO «The Committee Against Torture» in Mary El Republic; he claimed that the officers of State Traffic Safety Inspectorate (STSI) had beat him during the arrest and had broken his arm.
According to Valentin on September 17, 2012 he should have gone to a business trip to Arzamas (Nizhny Novgorod region) to take part in a professional competition for the title «The best fire engine driver». That day early in the morning Valentin left home and drove his own car to his place of work in order to take his fire engine license. However when he drove past the “Liliya” trading center an officer of DMVTC demanded stopping. Having recollected that he had left his driver license at home Valentin chose a wrong way of saving the situation – he didn’t stop and drove home to get the documents.
Valentin drove into his yard and started for the documents when the police UAZ car came, two officers jumped out and caught up with the forgetful driver at the inner porch.
As Valentin tells one of the policemen grabbed his right arm and the other hit him in the face. The further beating continued along with swearing when Valentin fall down. As a final humiliation act they twisted his arms by force, put handcuffs on and then were careful to take him to the Central Regional Hospital of Morki.
There a duty doctor wrote a medical examination act, where he stated that Valentin was sober. Next day on the basis of the primary examination forensic medical experts established that Valentin had a closed fracture of the left part of the left ulnar bone with a slight fraction (which is an injury of moderate severity), also bruises on the elbow joints, shoulders, chest, abrasions on the shins, the right forearm and the elbow joints.
A check was carried out by the senior investigator of the Inquiry Department of Committee of Inquiry in Mary El Republic V.V. Petukhov based on the fact of violence used by the officers of the Road Patrol Service; according to the results of this check he issued four unlawful denials to initiate criminal proceedings. All the unlawful decisions of the investigator were appealed against by lawyers of the Committee Against Torture, who represent the interests of Valentin Aleksandrov.
Human rights defenders appealed against the last denial of the investigator at the Yoshkar-Ola City Court. However, even before the court’s verdict was pronounced prosecutor of the Mary El Republic Serge Ryumshin reacted to application of lawyer of the Committee Against Torture Dmitry Yalikov and issued a request addressed to the head of the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Mary El Republic on initiating criminal proceedings.
As a result on 11 November 2014 Zvenigovsky Interdistrict Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Mary El Republic a criminal case was opened under Article 286 (3) (a) of Russian Criminal Code (exceeding official powers with use of violence). Prosecutor’s office of the Mary El Republic took a responsibility for a special control of the progress of this case investigation.
However it did not prevent investigator of Zvenigovsky Interdistrict Department Oksana Romanovskaya from dismissing this criminal case due to absence of criminal event. One of the statements of this ruling pronounces the following: «Bodily injury of victim V.V.Aleksandrov in the form of ulnar bone fracture became a result of the actions of V.V.Aleksandrov himself, in the course of his active resistance to the police officers lawful actions».
«From the text of the ruling on the dismissal of the criminal case it follows that the investigative authority agreed to the version of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate officers who reported that Valentin Aleksandrov put up fight on arrest. In their turn both Valentin and his wife say there was nothing of the sort. Apart from the words of the police officers themselves there is not a single proof of offering any resistance – for example, bodily injuries of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate officers, their torn uniform or witnesses statements. On the contrary, the version of the incident provided by the victim is confirmed by medical documentation, expert findings, witnesses’ statements. It is also unclear why Aleksandrov was not taken to court for offering resistance to the police officers which the law-enforcement officers themselves refer to? There is an impression that for 6 months investigator was directing the investigation aiming only at protection of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate officers whom the victim accuses of committing a crime, – thinks head of INGO «The Committee Against Torture» office in the Mary El Republic Dmitry Yalikov. – We definitely are going to appeal against the dismissal of the criminal case, but to begin with, we have to wait for the decision of the regional prosecutor’s office, which is going to evaluate this ruling of the investigator, and will hopefully, overturn it as illegal».