Petersburg resident sued the authorities for almost 500 thousand rubles for illegal prosecution and detention in a pre-trial detention center

The Moscow District Court of St. Petersburg has recovered compensation for moral damage for illegal criminal prosecution in favor of a local resident who spent almost a year in a pre-trial detention center as a suspect in drug trafficking.

By a court decision, Adolf Pavlovsky must receive 490 thousand rubles for illegal criminal prosecution. The plaintiff asked to recover from the defendants – the department of the federal treasury for the Leningrad region, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia – 2.46 million rubles, informs United Press Service of the Courts of St. Petersburg.

In December 2019, Pavlovsky was detained by law enforcement officers. A criminal case was opened against him under Part 3 of Art. 228 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (drug trafficking on an especially large scale). The St. Petersburg resident was threatened with a punishment of 15 years in prison.

The detainee was taken into custody. However, in August 2020, the criminal prosecution of Pavlovsky was terminated due to the absence of corpus delicti in his actions. The arrested person was released.

In the lawsuit, Pavlovsky indicated that in the pre-trial detention center he “was in horror and fear” because of the threat of a long imprisonment for a crime that he did not commit. The defendant in the criminal case “was nervous, suffered from a lack of family support and the usual circle of contacts, was limited in constitutional rights, could not take care of his sick mother and provide for his family.” The entire burden of material costs associated, among other things, with the provision of legal assistance to Pavlovsky, fell on his wife, whose salary is low.

Additional suffering to Pavlovsky was caused by the mention of his name in the media as an accused. The plaintiff also claimed that in the isolation ward he was at an increased risk of contracting coronavirus infection.