НАСТОЯЩИЙ МАТЕРИАЛ (ИНФОРМАЦИЯ) ПРОИЗВЕДЕН, РАСПРОСТРАНЕН И (ИЛИ) НАПРАВЛЕН ИНОСТРАННЫМ АГЕНТОМ «КОМАНДА ПРОТИВ ПЫТОК» ЛИБО КАСАЕТСЯ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ ИНОСТРАННОГО АГЕНТА «КОМАНДА ПРОТИВ ПЫТОК» | 18+

Vitaly Korshunov was unable to settle some disagreements with a police officer in one of the Moscow multipurpose centers, ending up in the police station. According to Mr. Korshunov, the officers beat him there and tried to take off his pants. Out of fear, at first Vitaly did not make the incident public, but later he decided to apply to human rights defenders for legal aid.

On the evening of 8 February, 36-year-old Vitaly Korshunov came to a multipurpose center on Bakhrushin Street to apply for a passport. He went up to the office of police employees to clarify some questions about filling out documents. Mr. Korshunov recalls that one of the policemen began to insult him. As Vitaly tried to record the conversation, the policeman grabbed Vitaly’s phone and a conflict broke out between the men. As a result, the officer seized Vitaly by the hand and did not let him leave the room. According to Mr. Korshunov, he still managed to open the door and call for help, but two more employees ran into the office.

«These three men tried to push me to the floor, one officer kicked me in the back of my knees, and the second one punched me in the head.»

Vitaly recalls that he was seated at the table; the men, while threatening him with criminal charges for attacking police officers, waved their arms, insulted him, and then even handcuffed him. After some time, a police squad arrived at the center and took Vitaly to the Police Department of the Zamoskvorechye district on Pyatnitskaya Street. Mr. Korshunov underlines that at the Department, he was taken into a room with two other police officers who also began to threaten him.

«The man told me: “Everyone will come right now and we will beat you, so stay in the center of the room,” threatened with rape, saying:“we will pierce you.” I was scared, believing that they could kill me here.»

As Vitaly recalls, within a few minutes the police officer punched him in the head, and then started screaming, forcing Vitaly to lie down on the floor.

«I saw a black truncheon in the man’s hands. I asked the officers not to do anything, but they said that they could do whatever they wanted, as the State has other problems nowadays, no one would care for me.»

Mr. Korshunov indicates that, after these words, he was hit on the head with that truncheon and began to be randomly kicked (on the arms, legs and head). At this time, another policeman entered the room and, according to Vitaly, hit him in the temple.

«The policeman checked my pockets and began to pull down my pants. Since my hands were handcuffed behind my back, I began to hold my pants with my hands and somehow resist. I shouted: «What are you doing, guys?»

After Vitaly’s screams, the officers stopped ill-treatment and their attempts to pull down the man’s pants; two policemen left the room, and Mr. Korshunov was allowed to rise and was taken to the first floor. Vitaly was photographed there, his fingers were rolled off, he was given some documents to sign, the contents of which he did not understand at that time. Then he was released.

Vitaly reached home by midnight; then he and the girlfriend went to the emergency room. Mr. Korshunov was diagnosed with bruises to the soft tissues of his head and both wrist joints. He told the doctor that his injuries were caused by unknown people because he was too afraid to tell the true details.

Subsequently, through the Internet public services portal, Vitaly found out that he had been issued a fine of 500 rubles by the Police Department of the Zamoskvorechye district for hooliganism (Part 1 of Article 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). According to the police, he had used obscene language in the multipurpose center.

The lawyers, who represent Vitaly’s interests, filed a crime report to the Zamoskvoretskiy Interdistrict Investigative Department, as well as a request to the police authorities to conduct an internal inquiry into the actions of the relevant police officers. Mr. Korshunov was questioned by the police, but no official decisions have been made yet.