The superiors of the Investigative Department for the Tverskoy District of Moscow quashed the refusal to initiate criminal proceedings and resumed the check based on Anna Prokofyeva complaint about the police battery in 2014. Quashing of another refusal became possible thanks to appealing by human rights defenders from the Committee for Prevention of Torture, representing the interests of Prokofyeva.
(Photo: Anna Prokofyeva, source: vk.com)
Anna Prokofyeva from Reutov applied to human rights defenders for legal assistance in June 2014. Anna is an individual entrepreneur and earns her living by taking photographs of tourists with entertainers dressed in historic costumes.
According to Prokofyeva, on 9 March 2014 she came with her colleagues-entertainers to the Aleksandrovsky Garden. In the afternoon police officers approached them and told them to leave and not to bother the passersby. Anna obeyed the law-enforcement officers, together with entertainers she packed the things and moved to the Nikolskaya Street, located not far from the Red Square.
Then, according to the entrepreneur, the events started to develop in the following way. Soon the same police officers came up to entertainers and tried to apprehend them. Anna asked that everyone is left alone and all the claims are addressed to her. According to Anna, the police officers started to wring her hands behind her back. Prokofyeva was hurt and she shouted. Anna asked not to apply force against her, but the police officers did not listen. As Prokofyeva recalls, she was thrown into the police vehicle on the backseat face down, and she hit her head severely. Having attempted to turn on her back the woman saw that a police officer was impending over her. He hit Anna’s leg with his arm. Then she turned her and she was able to sit. One of the entertainers was put on the front seat. All of them were taken to the District Department of the Interior.
At the police station Anna was taken into the cell for the detained where she spent about three and half hours until her husband Aleksandr came over and collected her. From the police department they went to the first-aid station where Anna was diagnosed with partial damage of the left musculus trapezius and left hip soft tissues contusion.
Based on the fact of inflicting bodily injuries to Prokofyeva, back in September of 2014 human rights defenders submitted a crime report to the Investigative Department for the Tverskoy District of Moscow. The investigators did not respond to that, having stated that there was no grounds for there is no ground or performing the check. This answer was appealed against in court, which declared it to be illegal and obliged the superiors of the investigative body to rectify the violation. Only after that, in a year, the investigation was forced to conduct a check.
In spring of this year the check was completed. Investigator Luiza Magomedova did not find any element of crime in the actions of the police officers.
However, lawyers of the Committee for Prevention of Torture, having familiarized with the materials of the check, found significant faults made by the investigation, and appealed against this refusal.
Today Deputy Head of the Investigative Department for the Tverskoy District of Moscow Mariya Agafonova told lawyer of the Committee for Prevention of Torture Sergey Babinets that the ruling in question was quashed on 11 August and additional check was assigned.
«Back in 2014 we asked the investigation to perform a number of simple checking activities. For example, question the applicant and other entertainers. Anna was questioned, but only after a year, and the others were not even searched for. In two years the investigators failed to identify the police officers who apprehended Anna, though the materials of the check includes the report on administrative violation drawn up with regard to Prokofyeva. The name of the police officer who developed this report is mentioned there. The investigators also received the copies of the guard report where all the officers who were on duty on the day of Anna’s apprehension, are identified, but none of them was questioned. Apart from submitting the requests to the police department for Kitay-Gorod the investigators did not perform any activities.
In January of this year the superiors of the Investigative Department for the Central Administrative District of Moscow, having resumed the check, indicated the wide range of necessary checking activities. However, investigator Magomedova failed to perform virtually anything, having confined herself to submitting two instructions to the same police department against the officers of which Prokofyeva was actually complaining. By the way, the police officers have never responded to these instructions. Despite this fact, another refusal was issued, – Babinets emphasizes. – Apparently, everyone in the Investigative Department and in the Prosecutor’s Office was happy with that. But we were not. I had a personal appointment with the head of the Tverskoy District Investigative Department Svetlana Kupriyanova and told her about all the shortcomings and failures of the investigation. Kupriyanova promised to sort out everything. As a result, yesterday evening the check was resumed, and we are, certainly, are satisfied with that».
Despite the fact that the complaint was satisfied and the check was resumed, Babinets intends to apply to Head of the City Department of the Investigative Comimittee Aleksandr Drymanov asking him to perform an agency check with regard to investigator Luiza Magomedova, who illegally refused to initiate criminal proceedings, as well as with regard to the superiors of the investigative department who failed to quash the illegal procedural ruling for half a year.