The Nizhny Novgorod traffic police will be held responsible in Strasbourg

Today the Committee against Torture has filed an application to the European Court in the interests of Maria Bukanova from Nizhny Novgorod who was battered in a detached traffic police battalion.  

  According to the applicant, on 21 April 2008 she was detained by the traffic police for driving without a license plate and taken to the special traffic police regimen where she was battered by an officer. The young woman was taken to hospital where doctors documented a concussion and an ecchymosis on the head.   

The Investigation Department of the Prosecutor’s Office conducted two checks under Ms. Bukanova’s application, in both cases the conclusion was that the traffic police officer could not be blamed for the incident. The district court dismissed the claim lodged by Maria’s representative, that decision was supported by the Nizhny Novgorod regional court.

At the same time lawyers of the Committee against Torture conducted a public investigation under Ms. Bukanova’s application and concluded that there were grounds to believe that the police had violated article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms prohibiting tortures.  

Besides, the inefficiency of the official investigation prompts violation of article 13 of the Convention, i.e. Maria Bukanova was deprived of her right to effective investigation.

For both breaches, filing an application to the European Court is the only possibility to restore the young woman’s rights.