European Court of Human Rights: Russia should pay an Uzbek citizen 39,700 euros for tortures at the police station

This was reported by human rights defender and lawyer Olga Gnezdilova on Tuesday, September 1, RIA Voronezh writes.

On 7 March 2012, 39-year-old Marat Martyshev was taken by two policemen from a house in Novovoronezh. The man was taken to the Bakhmet'yeva Street police station and later transferred to the Voronezh Railway District Department. Marat was explained that he was suspected of rape. However, according to reports, the victim was shown a portrait of Martishev and she did not recognize him as the perpetrator, but the police officers decided to interrogate him anyway. According to Martyshev, in order to force him to give the “needed” testimony, two law enforcement officers severely beat him. The policemen stepped and jumped on him, put an electric current through his fingers and genitals. After finishing the torture, the man was left in the lobby of the police department. The officer on duty saw Marat and called an ambulance. The hospital diagnosed a liver rupture, three rib fractures and multiple wounds.

The injuries led to the initiation of criminal proceedings for intentional infliction of bodily harm and abuse of authority. Several other victims were also tortured in this police station. Only one operative Valery Mochalov was accused, as the second policeman involved in the torture could not be identified.

First, Mochalov was found guilty of abuse of authority with violence against Martyshev and four other detainees in different districts of the Voronezh Oblast. The court also found him guilty of inflicting harm to the health of Martyshev. He filed an appeal. Then, the prosecutor’s office canceled the charges of causing serious injury to health, as Mochalov was not the only one who had beaten Martyshev and it was impossible to distinguish the perpetrator, as Marat had his eyes covered. Valery Mochalov’s sentence was reduced to 3.5 years of imprisonment. In overturning the conviction, the court referred to the impossibility of questioning the victim Martyshev in court, as he was deported for an administrative violation of the migration register.

Marat Martyshev appealed to the European Court of Human Rights in 2016. In October 2018, the ECHR responded. The case was considered by correspondence, without the parties being summoned to the court.

“The European Court pointed out that even by convicting Mochalov, the authorities did not assume responsibility for such injuries as the rupture of the liver and the fracture of the ribs, referring to the “unidentified person” whose actions caused these injuries. In fact, Mochalov was convicted for only two punches, which he inflicted until Martyshev’s eyes were covered. Consequently, the rights of the applicant have not been restored and, therefore, he has not lost the status of the victim according to the Convention,” told Olga Gnezdilova.

The Court noted that the failure to identify the perpetrator responsible for the liver rupture could only be attributed to the unwillingness of the authorities to investigate. Moreover, the policeman who together with Mochalov detained Marat Martyshev continued to work in the police until he was also convicted for beating a witness, she added.