Sometimes a video record may play a leading role in a torture case investigation. However, the police is not always ready to provide video records due to most strange reasons. Based on our experience, we outlined TOP-3 most ridiculous refusals to provide video records.

According to the statistics, out of all cases of the Committee Against Torture, where our lawyers submitted motions to seize video records from the supposed crime scene (or the investigator himself did the corresponding requests) (74 cases), in only 16 cases (21.6%) the requested video was received in full, in all the other cases the situation developed not so well.  

For example, for 48 cases (64.8 %) video could not be obtained at all due to various reasons – starting from the loss of video due to power surge ending with standard responses that “video records are stored on the local disc for not more than 30 days”.

For 10 cases (13.5%) the obtained video was not in the scope which presupposes the objective reconstruction of the event – sometimes minutes are missing from the video, sometimes – hours.