Yesterday, on 21 December 2016, a local citizen Vener Mardamshin who applied to the Committee for the Prevention of Tortures for legal assistance three weeks ago with the report of severe abuse he suffered at the local police department, was arrested and taken to the pre-trial detention center for two months following the verdict of Neftekamsk city court of the Republic of Bashkortostan. A day before that he had been arrested in Orenburg health resort “Stroitel”. On the same day (20 December) another man who had seen Mr Mardamshin with the signs of bodily injuries at the local police department was arrested. Currently he is waiting for the court’s restraining order.
Let us remind you that three weeks ago Vener Mardamshin applied to the Committee for the Prevention of Tortures asking for legal assistance. He said that on 10 November this year he was captured by four men; they handcuffed his hands, put a plastic bag on his head, pushed into the car and drove him away in the unknown direction. According to Vener, it turned out later that those were the policemen who took him to the local police department. After that they started beating him using truncheons and an electric shocker forcing him to confess to kidnapping of a woman. But the policemen’s attempts to get a confession to the committed crime from Vener were unsuccessful and they released him after taking an explanatory statement from him where he stated that he had been drinking alcohol with friends and had no claims to the policemen.
According to Mardamshin, an acquaintance of him helped him to get home. Vener’s wife called an ambulance, and the man was taken to the hospital in Neftekamsk, where he was receiving treatment until 21 November, and then was transferred to the hospital of Ufa.
Totally, Mardamshin spent twenty seven days receiving hospital treatment. The doctors of Neftekamsk hospital registered the following diagnosis in the discharge summary of the sick person: “Concomitant injury, closed craniocerebral injury. Brain concussion. Concussion of cervical vertebrae. Closed compression fracture of the body of vertebra L1. Closed (old?) fracture of L1 spine vertebra on the right. Concussion of the left side of the pelvis. Both kidneys contusion. Gross hematuria. Numerous concussions, bruises, scratch marks and pinpoint wounds of the soft tissues of the head, body, upper and lower limbs. Post-traumatic ischemic neuropathy of radial nerve of the left forearm. Post-traumatic ischemic neuropathy of the fibular nerve of the left lower leg.”
On 12 November Gulnaz Mardamshina (Vener’s wife) applied to Neftekamsk inter-regional investigation department of Investigation Division of Investigation Committee of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Bashkortostan with the crime report. A month later investigator of this department Andrey Nagornov made a resolution on initiating a criminal case based on the signs of the crime under the items “a, b” Part 3 Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the RF (“Abuse of office using violence and special means”).
When Vener was on medical rehabilitation receiving treatment at Orenburg health resort “Stroitel” policemen from Neftekamsk came there on 20 December. Mardamshin was arrested on suspicion of committing a number of crimes dated 12 November of the previous year within the framework of investigating the criminal case which has been suspended until recently.
As it turned out in the course of the proceedings of preliminary investigation conducted by the investigating group, the report of the criminal investigation department special agents dated 16 December this year (four days after initiating a criminal case upon the fact of the tortures) stating that Mardamshin was involved in perpetration of the investigated crimes became the reason for reopening this criminal case and arrest of Mardamshin.
Yesterday judge of Neftekamsk city court of the Republic of Bashkortostan Kuchura announced a verdict on restraining Mardamshin in the form of detention for two months; Mardamshin was charged with committing crimes under Part 3 Article 162 of the Criminal Code of the RF (“Robbery”) and items “a, c” Part 2 Article 166 of the Criminal Code of the RF (“Joyriding”).
As the human rights defenders found out on 20 December (on the day of detention of Mardamshin) and approximately at the same time a man who had seen Vener on 10 Nevember with the signs of bodily injuries at the local police department was arrested. A criminal case has already been opened in respect of this person; allegedly, he was arrested near the house by the officers of Neftekamsk police conducting special investigating activities and they confiscated from this person narcotic drug weighing 1.66 grams.
The partner of the arrested person told the human rights defenders that her husband fearing that he would be face the problem of pressure because of the evidence that he had given was trying to leave the flat for three weeks; and right before he was arrested a local district police officer asked him to go outside for a conversation.
In the nearest future the court is going to make a restraining decision for the arrested person.
“Certainly, the justification of the charges for both arrested people has to be checked in the course of the investigation and the court. However, the fact that the person reporting of the tortures and the witness who saw the beaten man at the local police department are virtually arrested at the same time and charged with committing various crimes produces a negative impression”, – points out lawyer of the Committee for the Prevention of Tortures Evgeny Litvinov.