Today the NN Committee Against Torture has won another trial concerning the caseofminorDmitryAndronov.

    This time the Sovetsky District Court dealt with the claims for compensation of non-pecuniary damage, which Mr. Andronov had suffered being unlawfully kept in custody.

    You may remember that on 09 March 2007 the administration of the detention center (SIZO) had not released Dmitry Andronov from custody, referring to the end of a working day, despite the decision of the regional court to release the minor from custody immediately. Only the following day, on 10 March, as a result of the activities of the NN Committee Against Torture and the Public Council of the Nizhny Novgorod Central Department of Internal Affairs, Mr. Andronov had been eventually released from custody.

    The representative of the detention center who took part in the trial disclaimed the suit and tried to convince the court that the staff of the detention center had acted in compliance with internal regulations which are “confidential” and had not violated the rights of Mr. Andronov.

    Judge L.A. Firsova agreed with arguments of the NN Committee Against Torture, which was representing Dmitry Andronov at the trial, upheld the claims in full and obliged the Ministry of Finance (represented by the Department of the Federal Treasury in Nizhny Novgorod Region) to pay Dmitry Andronov 35,000 rubles in compensation for non-pecuniary damage.