The European Court of Human Rights has considered several cases of torture in Ingushetia, Chechnya, Dagestan and the Krasnodar Territory. In all cases, the court found that the Russian investigation was inadequate, Kavkaz.Realii reports.
A court in Strasbourg ordered a payment of 26 thousand euros to the opposition Chechen blogger and one of the founders of the 1ADAT movement, Ibragim Yanglubaev. In 2015, he was beaten and tortured at the Grozny police department; according to Yangulbaev, the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, personally participated in this. The reason for the kidnapping and torture was his critical posts on social networks.
The ECHR awarded 52 thousand euros to a resident of Ingushetia, Abdul-Malik Albagachiev. In 2018, he was sentenced to nine years in prison for participating in an illegal armed group in Syria and the sale of explosives. After communicating with the security forces, multiple bruises and abrasions remained on his body, he suffered from convulsions, loss of sensitivity in his legs, and hemorrhages in the internal organs, which was confirmed by an examination. According to Albagachiev, he was tortured by employees of the Ingush Centre for Counteracting Extremism (Centre “E”). As a result of the torture, his hair fell out, he suffered nausea, coughing up blood, pain when swallowing, heartburn, and he began to lose consciousness. Doctors recorded a fracture of Albagachiev’s jaw and nose. Later he began to have epileptic seizures. This was due to the fact that the colony leadership refused to call a doctor for him after the attacks,
According to lawyer Irina Biryukova, the Investigative Committee terminated the criminal case of torture, which was initiated in 2018, due to the fact that the employee of Center “E”, whom Albagachiev pointed out, had died. At the trial, Albagachiev named the head of Center “E” for Ingushetia, Ibragim Eldzharkiev, among the people who threatened him and his family with violence. Eldzharkiev was shot dead in Moscow on November 2, 2019.
Albert Khamkhoev, a former member of the boxing team from Ingushetia, should also receive 52 thousand euros as compensation from Russia – in November 2017, employees of the republican Centre for Preventative Treatment and the FSB beat him and tortured him with a stun gun. The criminal case against the security forces, initiated in January 2018, was never brought to an end, despite repeated complaints from the lawyer and orders from the prosecutor’s office. In September 2018, Khamkhoev was convicted of allegedly illegal possession of weapons – he received a suspended sentence of one and a half years.
A court in Strasbourg awarded 26 thousand euros to Omar Murtazalieva from Dagestan, who was tortured in Center “E” of Dagestan in March 2017, demanding to confess to membership of an illegal armed group. In 2020, the republic’s ombudsman intervened in the situation and filed a complaint with the republican Investigative Committee regarding ill-treatment of the detainee, but the investigation repeatedly refused to initiate a criminal case.
The ECHR awarded the same amount to 46-year-old Denis Murdalov, who was detained by unidentified police officers in Krasnodar in October 2012. After the beating, he was forced to sign a confession, admitting to the murder. Repeated complaints did not help to initiate criminal proceedings against the security forces who exceeded their authority.
In the case of Sharov et al v. Russia, compensation of 26 thousand euros was awarded to Lom-Ali Elbiev from Chechnya – while the head of the municipal enterprise Heat Supply in Grozny, in 2017 he was detained and beaten by police. They demanded to confess to the embezzlement. He was released on condition of payment of 27 million rubles; after paying part of the amount, Elbiev left the country.
Compensation of 52 thousand euros was also awarded to actor Timur Debishev, who was beaten, strangled and tortured with electric shock in the Leninsky district police department of Grozny.
The refusal to initiate a case on the application of Denis Karimov, who in January 2017 was beaten and tortured with a stun gun by police in Gelendzhik, Krasnodar Territory, was declared illegal – thus they demanded that he confess to theft. The ECHR awarded him 26 thousand rubles.
The North Caucasus branch of the Team Against Torture, which represented some applicants at the ECHR, explained that the decisions of the European Court have little impact on law enforcement practice in the regions.
“The problem of violence by security forces remains acute to this day, despite numerous decisions of the ECHR on such cases. In light of recent events, these decisions of Strasbourg are also unlikely to play a decisive role in the situation with respect for human rights in the North Caucasus,” said a representative of the branch “ Teams against torture.”
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