Senior investigator on major crimes under the Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Igor Krasnov prohibited lawyer Yevgeny Goubin, who was assigned by «The Committee Against Torture» for work on the complaint of one of the suspects in the case of Boris Nemtsov’s assassination, from attending his client. Human rights defenders regard this as one more step by the official investigation preventing from timely check of the information reported by Dadayev about him being tortured, demanding that he provided a full confession, and later on all this may become a basis for declaring the evidence exposing Dadayev as unacceptable.
As we have previously reported, Tamerlan Eskerkhanov and Zaur Dadayev, involved in the case of Boris Nemtsov assassination have officially applied to the Moscow office of the interregional nongovernmental organization «The Committee Against Torture» for legal assistance in connection with illegal violence which they were subjected to.
However, having initiated a public investigation, human rights defenders immediately faced with difficulties and actual reluctance of the official investigative authorities to conduct the check based on the statement of the two men, suspected of Boris Nemtsov’s assassination, about tortures by law-enforcement officers.
Along with that, the investigative authorities do everything in their power to prevent human rights defenders, which the applicants turned for legal support to, from checking the above-mentioned information on torture.
Thus, on 13 April 2015 lawyer Goubin received a written answer from investigator Krasnov: «Your application on «prompt issue of permit for unrestricted attendance» of defendant Z.Sh.Dadayev has been considered. Hereby I inform you that defendant Z.Sh.Dadayev did not provide his consent or request for your involvement in the criminal case as his lawyer, for which reason there is no grounds for issuing a permit for attending the defendant».
Lawyer of the Moscow office of the Committee Against Torture Dmitry Piskounov is puzzled: «First of all it is important to note that Goubin’s request addressed to Krasnov did not refer to the lawyer’s participation in the case of Boris Nemtsov’s assassination in the capacity of a defense attorney, but to representation of Dadayev’s interests with regard to his torture complaint. In addition, Zaur Dadayev’s consent and his request to provide him with legal support are clearly indicated in the report of the Public Monitoring Commission, which attended him in Lefortovo detention facility. This report was attached to the application of lawyer Goubin requesting access to the detention facility and therefore, senior investigator merely ignored it. We continue to insist that the lawyer’s access to Lefortovo is critically important for conducting effective check of all applications of Zaur Dadayev about tortures that he was subjected to. In response to this decision of investigator Krasnov we have already sent complaints to the head of the Investigative Committee and the General Prosecutor. And on 22 April the Basmanny Court will consider the complaint of Yevgeny Goubin on restriction of his right to attend his client».
Head of the Committee Against Torture Igor’ Kalyapin also expresses his concerns: «By restricting the access of lawyers to defendants for providing legal support in the framework of the lodged torture complaint the investigative authorities are not only violating the procedural law and the Constitution, but also embedding a bomb under the body of evidence, the bomb which will definitely explode in future. Refusing to investigate torture complaints, restricting the access to the representative, the investigation simply deprives itself from any possibility to prove Dadayev’s claims wrong – if these are false – and casts a reasonable doubt on the whole body of evidence of the case».