Lawyers with the Committee Against Torture submitted crime reports to the Investigative Committee addressed to its Chairman Aleksandr Bastrykin, on behalf of five Moscovites who received injuries after apprehension at public events in Moscow on 27 July and 3 August.

After the public events in Moscow, five citizens applied to the Committee Against Torture, requesting public investigation and legal assistance.

Aleksandr Glushak reported that on 27 July during the mass event, a Rosgvardiya (Federal National Guard Troops Service) officer hit him with electric shocker: “The row of Rosgvardiya officers turned, they started to move towards us. It was about 2-3 meters between my wife and I and the officers, we were in front of the center of this row. We did not have enough time to get out of their way, my wife was in front of me, and on left there was this row of officers. At some moment I felt a push, which appeared to be a kick from the left at my body. Then I felt a short electricity shock in the same spot. I lost balance, and felt a stupor in my body and legs, started to stumble, I dropped the bag and fell. At that time, I heard that the officers received an order to stop. Some of them had truncheons with electric shock function. I clearly saw the electric contacts at the edge and heard specific buzz of electric shocker charge”.

After violence was applied against him, Mr Glushak immediately informed the observers which were located nearby.

At the first-aid station Aleksandr’s injuries were registered as follows: “Open wound of the back wall of the ribcage, contusions of ribcage soft tissues and bruises of the ribcage on the left”.

Nikolay Andreichev reported that on 27 July the police officers broke his arm when performing the combat technique “bending the arm behind the back”: “Two police officers came running up to me, knocked me on the ground face down, and one of them bent my left arm behind my back, and another one did the same to the right arm.

I started to demand that they explained the cause of my apprehension and introduced themselves, to which I received an answer from one of them: “Shut up you bitch”. I was kept on the ground for several minutes, and then they made me stand up and, while continuing to bend my arms from behind, they led me along the pavement. I did not resist; I went out of my free will. The officer on the right started to press against my right eye, I protested against that.

Then, two more police officers came up to us from behind. At that moment the police officer who was on the left, sharply jerked upwards my left arm which was behind my back. I felt very sharp pain, and heard a soft rustle in the area of the left joint. I cried of pain very loudly like I never did before”.

The ambulance team put Andreichev to the city clinical hospital No.1 named after N.I.Pirogov, where he was diagnosed with: “Closed nondisplaced fracture of external epicondyle of left shoulder”.

Mikhail Faito reported that on 3 August he was apprehended by the Rosgvardiya officers at the mass event and put to the van. Subsequently he was transferred to the van under the police officers control. Mikhail informed that he was beaten up in the territory of the Department of the Interior for the Pechatniki District when he came out of the police van because he started to pose questions and challenge the legality of the police officers’ actions. That is how he describes the incident: “The bus was parked with its cabin facing the concrete fence, I was brought to this gap between the bus and the fence and made me stand stretching, placing my hands on the fence and spreading my feet widely. I informed the police officers that a search requires attesting witnesses, but they did not respond to my words in any way. After the second remark the police officers started to hit my body. The hits were made with fists in the area of kidneys and ribs, in total about five hits were made, I lost count due to pain. I also received a hit from the back, at the right side just above the kidneys. After this hit I could not breath, I did not have air, I croaked. I felt a strong pulsation in my temples and how my body gets limp. If they had not hold me then, I would have fallen at that moment. I was very frightened; I was afraid they might kill me. This was increased by the memories of their brutal discussions of how they were beating people up.

After that, a bit left from the bus, they knocked me down on the pavement, I fell my face down on my left arm. One of the officers was pulling my body and hair, trying to move me away. The second officer was trying to sit on me in the lumbar area. At the same time, my head was also pressed against the pavement. I felt pain in the left side of my face, my shoulders, ankles and stomach. It hurt practically everywhere, as the police officers were pulling me along the asphalt pavement. After that they handcuffed me and pulled me up upwards sharply using handcuffs”.

The ambulance medics and traumatologist diagnosed Mikhail with: “Ligamentous injury of I-st finger of the left hand. Contusion of the left radiocarpal joint. Bruise of the face, body, limbs”.

Aleksandr Sviderskiy also reported that on 3 August he was also apprehended and escorted to the police vehicle. That is how he remembers the incident: “They kept pressing me against the bus, due to that I felt physical pain. I was concerned that apart from me, my dog, who was in my hands, will suffer from the above-mentioned actions, too. Some of the police officers started to kick against my feet. Then I received a blow with a palm in the left side of my face when I turned my head to the left. Due to this blow I hit against the bus.

Then I was put to the bus. There was a police officer in unmarked black uniform, in the mask and in the helmet. I requested that he introduced himself and tell the cause of my apprehension, while filming it on my phone. He started to turn away telling that it was not him who apprehended me. In about 15 minutes three police officers in unmarked black uniform, in the mask and in the helmet stormed into the bus, and two of them started to beat me up without any warnings or explanations. One police officer was standing at the entrance to the bus. Two police officers made me bend down, hold me by the neck, made me lay on the shelves in the bus and started to hit me with fists in the area of kidneys from the left side, which caused me a great deal of physical pain. Then these officers knocked me down on the floor, and I felt strong physical pain in the spine area closer to the lumbar area”.

At the first-aid station Aleksandr was diagnosed with “numerous contusions”.

On 3 August, lawyer with the Committee Against Torture Petr Khromov was located in the capacity of observer in the area of the Trubnaya Square, having the observer’s certificate on him, which he was wearing on the visible spot on his overclothes.

At about 4.20 p.m. two police officers suddenly seized him and started to escort in the direction of the police vehicles using physical force. That is how Petr remembers these events: “Without saying anything, the masked police officers pulled my hands behind my back, bent me forward and led me to the police cordon and vehicles. The police officers who apprehended me did not introduce themselves, did not express any demands, did not warn about applying physical force.

The police officer who was on the left from me, applied a submission hold against me, having forcefully bent the ankle of my left hand; I felt physical pain and strain in my arm’s muscles and joints. I demanded that these police officers explained to me the cause of my apprehension and applying physical force against me, as well as explained that I was not a participant of the event, but an observer. In response to that, the police officer who was on the left from me applied force, having pressed against my ankle, due to that I felt a sharp pain in my arm and lopped down on the way. I told him: “Be calm, officer. I’m still walking”. After that, apparently, because I turned my head, the police officer, who was on the left from me, pressed against the ankle of my left hand, after that he shouted at me: “Head down!”, simultaneously pressing at the back of my head. The actions of this police officer caused a sharp pain in my arm – the ankle and the shoulder. I was brought to the police vehicle and was made standing with my feet apart. At the same time, the police officer who was on the left, twice kicked my leg on the inside”.

Subsequently, when Khromov’s status as an oserver was established, he was released, he was not taken to the Department of the Interior, nor was he subjected to administrative action.

At the first-aid station Petr was diagnosed with: “Ligament tension and contusion of the left ankle joint”.

All above-mentioned facts are described in the crime reports submitted to the Investigative Committee and confirmed by the available medical documents, photo and video materials, explanations of the apprehended and the witnesses.

“Now we see how the Investigative Committee thoroughly and scrupulously processes information on violence against the police officers and Rosgvardiya (Federal National Guard Troops Service), uncompromisingly declaring virtually any impact of the protesters on law-enforcement officers to be a crime, – head of the Moscow branch of the Committee Against Torture Anastasia Garina says. – We hope that the Investigative Committee will work in the same uncompromising and thorough manner on all the cases when violence was really applied by the police officers against the citizens. There are a lot of videos on the Internet where it is seen how the police officers beat up people without any reason for applying violence. We think that all these cases deserve opening criminal cases and punishing the guilty party. We shall hope that the Investigative Committee officers will prove with their work the principle of equality before law, which is the foundation of the Constitution of Russia”.