НАСТОЯЩИЙ МАТЕРИАЛ (ИНФОРМАЦИЯ) ПРОИЗВЕДЕН, РАСПРОСТРАНЕН И (ИЛИ) НАПРАВЛЕН ИНОСТРАННЫМ АГЕНТОМ «КОМАНДА ПРОТИВ ПЫТОК» ЛИБО КАСАЕТСЯ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ ИНОСТРАННОГО АГЕНТА «КОМАНДА ПРОТИВ ПЫТОК» | 18+

As a result of the actions of the authorities during the riot in the Correctional Colony No. 15 in 2020, more than 400 prisoners were injured. Human rights defenders are seeking an investigation and punishment for those responsible.

In Irkutsk, the Kirov District Court rejected the relevant complaint of human rights defenders. This complaint was filed against the decision to refuse to open a criminal case into the fact of the use of violence against prisoners in the Angarsk colony.

On the night of 9-10 April 2020, a riot occurred in the Colony No. 15 in the city of Angarsk in the Irkutsk region, which was suppressed by officers and special forces of the Federal Penitentiary Service, as well as a consolidated OMON detachment of the Russian Guard. According to forensic medical examinations, 10 prisoners suffered bodily injuries that caused moderate harm to health; 91 prisoners received injuries that are classified as causing minor harm to health; and 316 prisoners received bodily injuries classified as not causing harm to health.

Prisoner Khumaid Khaidayev, a 45-year-old native of Chechnya, received a total of 29 injuries that amounted to moderate harm to health: closed fractures of the phalanges of the fingers, bruises, abrasions, subcutaneous hemorrhages all over the body. His interests are represented by human rights defenders.

The First Department for the Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of the Investigative Committee for the Irkutsk region conducted an inquiry into these facts of the use of physical force. Subsequently, on 1 December 2021, the Investigative Committee refused to open a criminal case. The actions of the enforcement officers on the territory of the colony were recognized as lawful.

Since 2021, human rights activists have not been able to familiarize themselves with the material of this pre-investigation inquiry, the extent of which amounted to 51 volumes, a total of more than 12 thousand pages. It was possible to get acquainted with these documents only at the end of 2023, and after that, the decision dated 1 December 2021 was challenged before the court.

As it became known after familiarization with the materials, during the pre-investigation inquiry, the investigator did not question the victims. Instead, interrogation protocols of prisoners with testimony in another case – about the disorganization of the work of a correctional institution (Article 321 of the Criminal Code), where they were questioned as suspects, – were included in the inquiry materials. For instance, Khumaid Khaidayev, interrogated as a suspect, took advantage of Article 51 of the Constitution and refused to give any testimony, which was his line of defense in the relevant criminal case. Consequently, the case did not contain his testimony in connection with the episodes of the officers’ violence. Mr. Khaidayev was not questioned at all as part of the inquiry into the actions of the enforcement officers.

The fighters of the consolidated OMON detachment of the Irkutsk region (172 people in total) were not identified and questioned; Mr. S.V. Burenkov,  the commander of the Irkutsk OMON, who led them, was not questioned either. The SOBR officers (50 people in total) were also not identified and questioned. Finally, the officers of the Main Directorate of the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation for the Irkutsk region, included in the consolidated detachment (up to 255 officers), were not interrogated at all.

Refusing to open a criminal case, the investigator of the regional Investigative Committee did not formulate an answer: as a result of what actions Khumaid Khaidayev had received all these bodily injuries recorded on him. At the same time, the investigator came to the conclusion that physical force and special means were used by the officers lawfully, and there was no criminal event.

On 30 October 2024, despite the above arguments, the Kirov District Court of the city of Irkutsk rejected the complaint, recognizing the decision to refuse to open a criminal case as lawful and indicating that «all necessary inquiry measures were carried out, and a proper assessment of the information received was given.» In this connection, the lawyers have lodged an appellate complaint before the Irkutsk Regional Court.