Today the Sovetsky District Court passed the sentence under the criminal case, opened on 3 August 2002 on the ground of the death of Aleksandr Anoshin.

Photo: the judge is passing the sentence

The court absolutely agreed with the public prosecutor and sentenced Mr. Maslov, charged with the commission of the crime under Articles 105 §1 and 286 §3 of the RF Criminal Code, to 12 years’ imprisonment in a high-security colony.

Photo: convict Maslov

Mr. Antonov and Mr. Ageev, charged with the commission of the crime under Article 286 §3 of the RF Criminal Code, were sentenced to 4 years’ conditional sentence on three years’ probation.

Photo: convicts Antonov and Ageev 

   The prosecutor’s office of Sovetsky District had been carrying out the pretrial investigation under this criminal case for four years and the proceedings were discontinued 12 times for the lack of suspected persons. For four years the investigative bodies had been ignoring the fact of forcible death of Aleksandr Anoshin in the detoxification center of Sovetsky District. And each time the case was reopened owing to the efforts of lawyers from the NN Committee Against Torture.

    Lawyers of the NN Committee Against Torture lodged a complaint with the European Court against the violations of Articles 2 (Right to life), 3 (Prohibition of torture) and 13 (Right to an effective remedy) of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

    Immediately after the complaint was registered in the European Court the criminal case concerning the death of Aleksandr Anoshin was referred to the prosecutor’s office of Nizhny Novgorod region. The prosecutor’s office established three persons suspected of the murder of Aleksandr Anoshin. Those were policemen of the detoxification center – Mr. Antonov, Mr. Maslov and Mr. Ageev.

   In the course of the pretrial investigation Mr. Antonov and Mr. Ageev were accused of the commission of the crime as provided by Article 286 §3 of the RF Criminal Code (Abuse of official powers). The policemen pleaded guilty.

    Mr. Maslov was accused of the crime under Article 105 §1 (Murder) and Article 286 §3 (Abuse of official powers) of the RF Criminal Code. Mr. Maslov pleaded non-guilty.