On August 30, 2011 the Kstovo city court adjudicated on the criminal case against former police officer, detached company platoon commander of the Patrol and Point Duty Service under the Kstovo District Directorate of the Interior Vladimir Kiselyov charged with cruel beatings of underage teens Roman Vaulin and Nikita Kaftasyev.

The court found Vladimir Kiselyov guilty under cl.”a”, p.3 of Article 286 of the Russian Criminal Code (actions of an official clearly exceeding his powers leading to a gross violation of human rights and legal interests, committed with the use of violence) and sentenced him to three and a half years of imprisonment in a standard security penal colony.  

During the pre-trial and judicial investigation Vladimir Kiselyov’s guilt was established and fully proved.  The defendant has not acknowledged his guilt or repented during the hearing, on the contrary, he tried to delude the investigative authorities and court with his misleading statements.

You may remember that Nikita Kaftasyev’s mother applied to the Interregional Committee Against Torture claiming that her son had been cruelly beaten by the police. Nikita and his friend were detained on their way home and taken to the Directorate of the Interior. There, the teens claim, they were tortured and humiliated. According to preliminary investigation findings, the accused, being in his official capacity of a police officer, using the teen’s refusal to answer his questions as a pretext, hit each of them in the groin. Later he continued the “preventive conversation” by using strangulation and kicks. In the morning, Nikita, wearing blood-stained clothes and complaining about pain in the groin, was taken home. Nikita’s mother called in an ambulance, he was immediately hospitalized and urgently operated on.

The Committee Against Torture agrees with the Kstovo city court’s verdict and finds it lawful and well-founded.  

The CAT would like to point out that recently one can notice a positive development in the Russian judicial system which manifests itself in the fact that courts do not suspend the imposition of sentence on state agents convicted of grave human rights violations.

The project is supported by the European Commission. The content of this publication is the responsibility of INGO “Committee against Torture” and does not reflect the European Union’s position.