Head of the Procedural Monitoring of the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Nizhny Novgorod region Aleksey Peresypin declared illegal the refusal to initiate the criminal case based on the fact of a school boy’s death in February 2012 and obliged the investigators of the Sergachskiy Interdistrict Investigative Department to conduct another check. The head of this department was declared a reprimand for the violations of the work committed.
As we have previously reported, on 1 October 2013 Anna Gyurdzhinyan applied to Nizhny Novgorod regional branch of the Committee Against Torture for legal assistance and told the human rights defenders her sad story. On 20 February 2012 she received a call from local school No.3 where her son Sako Solakian studied in 9th grade. She was told that her son was urgently taken to the Sergachskiy Central District Hospital intensive care unit. Unfortunately, despite the emergency surgery, the teenager died the next day. Later the circumstances of the accident were revealed: it turned out that her son lost his consciousness as a result of a fight with the 11th grade pupil.
Believing that not only the second party in the fight was to blame for the death of her son (on 10 April 2014 he was sentenced to 3 years prison term), but also the school staff who failed to prevent the tragedy, Anna Gyurdzhinyan decided on seeking help of human rights defenders. The Committee Against Torture lawyers conducted a public investigation which established the violation of the applicant’s rights by the state in the part of ensuring health and safety of her son who was studying in Sergachskiy school No.3.
As a result, on 16 July 2014, the Sergachskiy District Court of Nizhny Novgorod region awarded 100 000 RUB to Anna Gyurdzhinyan, in compensation for moral damages inflicted by the staff of Sergachsky school No.3 who neglected their duty of ensuring the safe environment for the pupils.
Despite this court decision the culprits are not identified to this day: investigators of the Sergachskiy Interdistrict Investigative Department have already issued five refusals to initiate criminal proceedings. And every time human rights defenders appealed against these refusals, which subsequently were declared illegal.
However, challenging this ruling on appeal bore some fruit – the regional court passed a judgment stating that the human rights defenders’ complaint is sent back to the court of the first instance for examination.
That was the case with the last refusal to initiate criminal proceedings – it was declared illegal, and the materials were sent for additional check.
– On 22 December of last year I was at the personal appointment at head of the regional Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee Andrey Vinogradov and told him about the red tape of the Sergachsky Investigative Department and of its head indulgence thereof, – lawyer of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture Evgeny Chilikov, representing the interests of Anna Gyurdzhinyan, describes. – I was pleasantly surprised that Andrey Pavlovich had an idea about the case and knew its circumstances; moreover, he said in the course of the conversation that the head of the Sergachskiy Investigative Department will be subjected to disciplinary action. Let us hope that this will become an important incentive for the investigators for conducting the efficient check.