The Shakhunsky District Court of the Nizhny Novgorod region is finalizing the court hearing of the criminal case of former investigative officer of the Department of the Interior for the Shakhunsky District Andrey Tumanov, who is charged with committing a crime under item “a” part 3 Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the RF (“abuse of office with the use of violence”). Today, State Prosecutor Sergey Lugin requested a punishment for the defendant in the form of six years’ prison term in a standard security penal colony.
(Photo: victim Denis Kramchaninov)
As we have previously reported, Denis Kramchaninov applied to the Committee Against Torture in July 2010. At that time, he told the human rights defenders that he was severely beaten by a local police officer who was forcing the young man to sign a false self-accusation of committing a street theft.
As Kramchaninov reported in his explanation, in the evening of 15 July 2010 he was brought from his home to the police department of Shakhunya town. Inside the office premises the police officer demanded that the guy confessed of a street theft, after that he hit him several times with his fists against the head, pressed his fingers with pliers, and, having put the gas mask on the young man, made him do knee bends. The battery and torture lasted for about two hours, after that Denis yielded and agreed to sign a full confession, which was dictated to him by the police officer. When in the evening of the same day the young man applied to the Shakhunskaya District hospital doctors diagnosed him with a cerebral concussion and registered some hematomas on his body.
The criminal case on theft initiated against Denis was dismissed in a short time due to failure to prove the young man’s guilt.
For almost seven years human rights defenders were insisting on opening the criminal case based on Denis torture report: during this time ten refusals to initiate criminal proceedings were issued, subsequently they were declared illegal and quashed. In August of last year the Committee’s lawyers applied to the European Court of Human Rights in the interests of Denis Kramchaninov.
On 29 May of this year the criminal case was opened in relation to former investigative officer of the Department of the Interior for the Shakhunsky District Andrey Tumanov, who is accused of committing a crime under item “a” part 3 Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the RF (“abuse of office with the use of violence”).
The preliminary investigation of the criminal case took about two months and after the assertion of the indictment by the Prosecutor it was sent to court for evaluation on its merits.
“Today the judicial investigation was concluded and the parties in the court hearing commenced discussion. State Prosecutor Sergey Lugin requested a punishment for the defendant in the form of six years’ prison term in a standard security penal colony, because, in his opinion, the defendant’s guilt in the incriminated crime is fully proven, – lawyer with the Committee Against Torture Sergey Babinets, representing the interests of Denis Kramchaninov, reports from the court. – The victim stated that he would be satisfied with any indictment. In the course of the court investigation the defendant did not acknowledged his guilt, refused to provide evidence, having used the constitutional right not to testify against himself”.
The verdict will be announced on 17 January 2018. Start at 10 a.m.