Yesterday the Prosecutor’s office supported the position of human rights defenders from the Committee against Torture during the hearing under the case of torture victim Sergey Lyapin from Nizhny Novgorod in the Dzerzhinsk court.

On 29 December the Dzerzhinsk city court conducted two hearings under complaints filed by the Interregional Committee against Torture in the interests of Sergey Lyapin. The Committee claimed that Mr. Lyapin’s right to access to information had been violated by the Dzerzhinsk Investigation Committee that had earlier denied Mr. Lyapin the right to study the materials obtained as a result of a check under his torture claim. The court agreed with the position of the Committee and the prosecutor’s office and sustained the claim.  

Besides, the Dzerzhinsk city court found the refusal to start criminal proceedings on the allegation of torture that the Committee had appealed against 3.5 months before unlawful. Representatives of the Committee had to apply to the Dzerzhinsk city court first, then to the Nizhny Novgorod region court and later, again to the Dzerzhinsk city court, because the criminal division of the regional court cancelled the decision taken by the Dzerzhinsk city court and found several violations in the refusal to open a criminal case.

We are glad to mention that the prosecutor’s office, unlike the Investigation Committee, initially supported Mr. Lyapin’s claims in respect of both refusals. The prosecutor’s office begins to perform its duties of a “state human rights defendant” effectively and to protect violated citizens’ rights and interests. Unfortunately, the investigation bodies are not that successful. You may remember that by this time the Committee against Torture has managed to cancel about several dozens of unlawful refusals to open criminal proceedings issued by the Investigation Committee through the Nizhny Novgorod region court.