Today the Orenburg regional court has upheld the verdict in respect of former police officer Valery Prytkov charged with killing Aksakovo resident Valery Lyamov. Thus, victim’s and defendant’s cassation appeals, as well as the cassation claim of the Prosecutor’s Office have been dismissed.
You may remember that the crime took place almost 6 years ago – on December 19, 2005. According to the bill of indictment, Valery Lyamov was detained and beaten by district police officers Prytkov and Abrashin. The detainee was taken to the Buguruslan District Department of Internal Affairs. Lyamov spent several hours lying on the floor at the police station. An ambulance was summoned only when Lyamov stopped breathing. The Orenburg Regional Forensic Medical Examination Bureau conducted a forensic examination which determined that Lyamov had had numerous intravital injuries – bruises and abrasions on the face, soft tissues of the head, cerebral apoplexy, ruptures in neck bones, etc. and that the death had occurred due to a neck bone fracture. The victim’s head had been drawn back to the limit and abruptly twisted to the right.
The first trial took place in 2008 and terminated in submission of the case file to the Prosecutor’s Office for elimination of defects. The second trial finished in 2010 with Abrashin’s acquittal and Prytkov’s conviction to 5 years of imprisonment. The Prosecutor’s Office appealed against the verdict in part of Prytkov, the regional court quashed the judgment and submitted the case for retrial to the same court.
On July 11, 2011 the Buguruslan district court chaired by judge Tatyana Klevtsur for the third time adjudicated on the case. That time Prytkov was freed from the charge under p.4 art.111 of the RF Criminal Code (“intentional infliction of grave damage to health causing manslaughter”), found guilty under cl. «а», «b», «c» p. 3 art. 286 of the RF Criminal Code (“actions of state agents clearly exceeding their official powers and causing substantial violations of individual rights and legal interests committed with violent treatment, application of special tools and causing grave damage to health) and sentenced to five years of imprisonment in a standard security penal colony.
It must be noted that within five years from indictment, Prytkov has not once been taken in custody, has got the rank of lieutenant-colonel and even retired with a special retirement benefit.
In her speech addressed to regional court judges, representative of the Prosecutor’s Office underlined that she had not encountered such unmotivated verdicts in her practice and asked the court to quash it. However, the prosecutor’s opinion did not influence the decision of the judicial college.
The Interregional Committee Against Torture intends to appeal against the judgment to the supervisory instance and file an application to the ECtHR at the same time. The ICAT believes that the Russian Federation has not conducted an effective investigation of the incident, and no one has been held responsible for the death of a person.