Yesterday the Kstovo city court tried the appeal filed by the Interregional Committee against Torture against the refusal to open criminal proceedings under the application of 70-year old Alexander Rakhmanov from Kstovo.

Mr. Rakhmanov applied to the Committee against Torture claiming that he had been beaten up by officers of the Nizhny Novgorod regional Directorate of the Interior in his own house while the police performed a search under a criminal case instigated against the pensioner’s son.

According to Mr. Rakhmanov’s wife Irina, she was also abused by the police that was not capable of performing a regular investigative action without beating up the elderly people.

Later the woman was convicted for “biting a police officer”.

Yesterday the court dismissed the claim saying that the situation related to Alexander Rakhmanov’s battery had already been considered in the context of the case against his wife.

As usual, the Prosecutor’s Office showed blatant non-professionalism and blazing cynicism. Its representative who took part in the hearing confirmed that there had been no check performed under Mr. Rakhmanov’s application, and moreover, that it was not really necessary to check the old man’s allegations of police abuse.  The court ignored the arguments of the Committee against Torture insisting on a separate, complete and objective check under Mr. Rakhmanov’s application claiming that he had been battered and injured by the police. The court decided to uphold the refusal to start a criminal case.  

The Committee against Torture is going to lodge a cassation appeal against this decision disguising the unlawful actions of the police and grave violations committed by the Prosecutor’s Office and investigation authorities.