Today, judge of the Tagansky District Court of Moscow, Natalya Larina passed a verdict of conviction with regard to two former police officers Aleksey Burulko and Nikolay Pervakov. They were declared guilty of abuse of office with the use of violence. Burulko is sentenced to three years and six months of prison term, Pervakov – to three years and nine months, with serving the sentence in a standard regime penal colony. The convicts were taken into custody in the court room.

(Aleksey Burulko and Nikolay Pervakov)

As we have previously reported, Faig Nagdaliyev applied to the Committee Against Torture with a complaint, stating that in August 2016 he was beaten up by the police officers after he gave them reproof for smoking at undesignated smoking point. According to Faig, on 25 August 2016 he saw a group of people who were smoking at the entrance to Taganskaya metro station. There were 8-10 of them and the majority wore police uniforms. Faig was surprised that the police officers were violating the Code of Administrative Offences in such an open manner. He approached them and made a comment on that. The police officers replied in a gross manner, after that an argument followed on how the law-enforcement officers should and should not behave. According to Faig, the dispute ended when one of the officers knocked Faig’s mobile phone from his hands when he was trying to take a photo of the law-enforcement officers, and then the policemen pulled his arms behind him, put him on his knees and beat him up, kicking at his head and chest. As a result, Faig was inflicted with closed craniocerebral injury, brain concussion, as well as numerous bruises and contusions.

According to Faig, after that he was apprehended and taken at first to the police premises at Taganskaya metro station, and then to the police department. As he was explained, it happened due to his attempt to take a photo of the police officers. In the end, Faig was released, but before that he was forced to write that all the injuries he received on his own, when he hit against the door of the metro train.

“On the same evening the police officers brought a cake to the Russian Football Union and apologized to the security officer at the check point”, – Faig remembers.

Nevertheless, Faig was convinced that apart from the cake and apologies to Russian Football Union security officer who had nothing to do with the incident, the guilty officers should be brought to responsibility established by the law for battery. For over a year he was seeking for justice at the Investigative Committee, however, the investigative authorities kept issuing refusals to initiate criminal proceedings which were subsequently quashed.

In the end, on 3 November 2017, during personal appointment with Head of the Chief Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for Moscow Aleksandr Drymanov, the latter, having listened to Faig, ordered to open a criminal case against the police officers who beat him up. On 7 November, his order was implemented, and a criminal case was opened with regard to elements of crime under item “a” of Part 3, Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“abuse of office using violence”).

In the course of the investigation, two former officers of the Patrol-Guard Serivce at the Moscow Metro, who, according to Faig, applied physical force against him, confessed and repented. Aleksey Burulko and Nikolay Pervakov told the investigator how they hit Faig Nagdaliev several times without any legal grounds, and they fully confirmed the victim’s evidence.
 
In March 2018, the investigation was completed and the criminal case materials were sent to the Tagansky District Court of Moscow.
 
Today, judge Natalya Larina passed a verdict of conviction with regard to two former police officers Aleksey Burulko and Nikolay Pervakov. They were declared guilty of committing the crime under item “a” Part 3 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of Russia (“abuse of office with the use of violence”). Aleksey Burulko is sentenced to three years and six months of prison term, Nikolay Pervakov – to three years and nine months, with serving the sentence in a standard regime penal colony. The convicts were taken into custody in the court room.

Lawyer with the Committee Against Torture Dmitry Piskunov is satisfied with the court ruling: “It’s gratifying to see that the court accepted the opinion of the victim who insisted on strict punishment of the convicts, as well as with the stance of the European Court of Human Rights, according to which only real jail time as punishment for tortures can help to eradicate this inhumane practice. Our plans for future involve submitting a civil lawsuit to the Ministry of the Interior on compensation for moral damage for Faig”.