Nizhny Novgorod investigators disciplined for ineffective police torture investigation

The Office of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Nizhny Novgorod Region brought to disciplinary responsibility the head and deputy head of the investigation department for the Avtozavodsky district of Nizhny Novgorod. This was done on the basis of the decision of the Avtozavodsky District Court in the torture case of a local resident Alexander Semenov, informs “Committee against Torture”. 10 years ago, the police knocked out a confession from him, after which Semyonov was convicted.

Judge Yevgeny Terekhov pointed out that due to the illegal actions of the investigators, the former police officer, Aleksey Polushin, who was guilty of torture, escaped criminal liability for a serious crime. Production was stopped due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

According to Alexander Semenov, on May 19, 2011, officers of the police department No. 1 of the Avtozavodsky district handcuffed him and demanded to confess to the murder. Having received a refusal, the security forces began to beat the detainee, hitting him on the head. Then the police applied the “envelope” torture to Semyonov (the victim was twisted by handcuffed hands behind his back, passed a rope through his arms and legs, and then pulled it together so that the person was “folded” like an envelope; he is in this position for a long time).

They also put a plastic bag on Semyonov’s head, shocked him and stepped on his head. As a result, the detainee confessed to beating the man and was later sentenced to a two-year suspended sentence.

Investigators have issued orders to refuse to initiate a criminal case five times. All of them were canceled as illegal.

The officers of the Avtozavodsky District Police Department stated in their explanations that Semenov tried to escape, ran out of the building and fell to the ground, as a result of which he allegedly received injuries.

During the pre-investigation check, a forensic expert’s report was obtained, in which Semenov’s injuries were described. The expert concluded that the injuries could have resulted from torture. This conclusion was lost by the investigation, but after numerous appeals from human rights defenders, it was re-attached to the case.

A criminal case on abuse of office with the use of violence (clause “a”, part 3 of article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) was initiated only seven years later, on December 11, 2018. During the preliminary investigation, former police officer Aleksey Polushin partially pleaded guilty, saying that he could have hit the detainee several times in the face after his attempt to escape.