Communicated on 5 July 2018
THIRD SECTION
Application no. 25400/10
Igor Anatolyevich GARMASHOV against Russia
and 4 other applications – see appended list
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The applicants complained under Article 3 of the Convention that they had been subjected to ill-treatment by State officials and that the State failed to conduct an effective domestic investigation into those incidents. All of the applicants submitted that their attempts to initiate criminal investigation in connection with the incidents proved futile. Some applicants also relied on Article 13 in the latter respect.
The relevant details regarding the applicants’ allegations and their version of factual circumstances are reflected in the attached appendices. The information regarding the alleged breach of the substantive aspect of Article 3 in contained in Appendix no. 1. The reaction of the domestic authorities to the applicants’ complaints is reflected in Appendix no. 2.
The table of cases:
No.
Application number
Introduction date
Name of the applicant(s); date of birth
place of residence
Represented by
1.
25400/10
31/03/2010
Igor Anatolyevich GARMASHOV
19/03/1977
Shilda
2.
71889/11
01/10/2011
Dmitriy Aleksandrovich NIKONOROV
07/12/1974
Voronezh
3.
19326/13
02/02/2013
Zayndi Umarovich SUGAIPOV
12/07/1977
Gikalo
Ilyas Yakubovich TIMISHEV
4.
26454/13
01/04/2013
Vladimir Vyacheslavovich ARKHIPOV
01/10/1992
Orenburg
Committee against Torture
5.
11405/17
18/01/2017
Igor Zanilovich TAYSINOV
19/03/1977
Shilda
QUESTIONS
1. Having regard to the injuries found on the applicants after the time spent by them in State custody, have the applicants been subjected to torture, or inhuman or degrading treatment, in breach of Article 3 of the Convention (see, among other authorities, Razzakov v. Russia, no. 57519/09, 5 February 2015; Gorshchuk v. Russia, no. 31316/09, 6 October 2015; Turbylev v. Russia, no. 4722/09, 6 October 2015; Fartushin v. Russia, no. 38887/09, 8 October 2015; Aleksandr Andreyev v. Russia, no. 2281/06, 23 February 2016; and Leonid Petrov v. Russia, no. 52783/08, 11 October 2016)?
2. Have the authorities discharged their burden of proof by providing a plausible or satisfactory and convincing explanation of how the applicants’ injuries were caused (see Selmouni, cited above, § 87, and Salman v. Turkey [GC], no. 21986/93, § 100, ECHR 2000‑VII and Bouyid v. Belgium [GC], no. 23380/09, § 83 and further, ECHR 2015)?
3. Did the authorities carry out an effective investigation, in compliance with the procedural obligation under Articles 3 and 13 of the Convention (see Lyapin v. Russia, no. 46956/09, §§ 125-40, 24 July 2014), having regard to:
(a) the investigating authorities’ refusals to open criminal cases and investigate the applicants’ allegations of ill-treatment by the State officials, and the overruling of those refusals as unlawful and unsubstantiated by higher investigative authorities or courts, and
(b) the investigating authorities’ inability to implement full investigative measures within the framework of the pre-investigation inquiries, before and/or after amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure introduced by Federal Law no. 23-FZ of 4 March 2013, for example, confrontations, identification parades, searches, and so forth?
APPENDIX
No.
Application No. and Title
APPENDIX No. 1
Article 3 - Substantive aspect
ARREST
ALLEGED ILL-TREATMENT
EVIDENCE
Date
Time
Facts
Region Town
Street
Entity
Date
Time
Location
Alleged Facts
Perpetrator(s)
Date
Doc Type
Authority
Description
of Injuries
1.
25400/10
Garmashov
v. Russia
19/12/2007 (evening)
Novorossiysk, at the apartment of witness A.
Police, Novorossiysk
Arrested on suspicion of murder
After apprehension (19-26 December 2007)
Department of the Interior for the Central District of Novorossiysk
Blows over the face, back, stomach, hands and legs; applying electric current through human body (through ears, stomach, fingers)
Criminal investigators P. and O.
24/12/2007
Forensic examination report
Forensic Bureau, Novorossiysk Branch
Bruises on the face, body, and hands, appeared out of the impact of blunt hard objects, 6-8 days before the conduct of the examination
2.
71889/11
Nikonorov
v. Russia
03/06/2008 at 7.30 am
Train No.409 Kislovodsk-
St Petersburg, station ‘Rossosh’
Kominternov-skiy district police department of Voronezh
3/06/2008, 11am-7pm
Kominternov-skiy district police department of Voronezh
Policemen hit and kicked the applicant, who was handcuffed. One policeman beat him at legs and torso with a metal stick
unknown policemen
03/06/2008
Forensic examination report
(заключение эксперта) No. 1796.08
Forensic Bureau of the Voronezh Region
A blue-coloured bruise on the right thigh, 7*6 cm. Age - not more than 1-3 days. An injury to the right shoulder which, according to the applicant, he got before his arrest.
The applicant was arrested in carriage No. 49 of train No. 409 (Kislovodsk-St Petersburg) on the station ‘Rossosh’. He was then taken to the Kominternovskiy District Police Department of Voronezh. An arrest record was drafted at 7.40 pm
04/06/2008
Report (акт о наличии телесных повреждений у подозреваемого, обвиняемого)
IVS Officer on duty, Mr Sh.
Bruises on the right hand, on the right side of the torso, on the right leg
17/03/2011
Letter (NB - An ambulance was called on 03/06/2008. All documents were destroyed due to expiry of storage time limits)
Emergency medical aid station of Voronezh
An injury to the chest
02/08/2011
Letter (extracts from the applicant’s medical record drafted upon his arrival to the IZ-3 on 10/06/2008)
Medical department of the IZ-3 Voronezh Region
An injury to the right underarm, 2*1.5 cm, surrounded by a bruise of 8cm in radius. A bruise on the right side of the torso, 5*3 cm. A bruise under the right knee, 5*5 cm. A bruise on the right thigh, 10*5 cm
3.
19326/13
Sugaipov
v. Russia
10/04/2010 at 11 a.m.
Village of Yakshul of the Republic of Kalmykia
State Inspection for Road Traffic Safety
10/4/2010
Near village of Yakshul of the Republic of Kalmykia
The applicant, a fuel tanker driver, was bitten in the stomach and neck after having refused to pay a bribe
3 policemen of the State Inspection for Road Traffic Safety
11/04/2010
Certificate (Справка)
Emergency department of the Chernozemelskiy Central District in the village of Komsomolskaya; Kalmykiya Republic
An injury of the left side of the chest, light cerebral contusion
4.
26454/13
Arkhipov
v. Russia
11/11/2011 around
3:45 a.m.
The Department of Internal Affairs no. 1 in Orenburg
the applicant with one another person were arrested in the car and was ill-treated by the police officers to extract a confession that they stole the car battery
11/11/2011
at 8:30 a.m.
The Department of Internal Affairs no. 1 in Orenburg
The police officer repeatedly beat the applicant with his fists on the head and in the kidney area. The applicant had warned him that he suffered from Von Willebrand disease.
Police officers
11/11/2011
The city hospital named after N.I. Pirogov
Injuries of the soft tissue of the head, bruises on the chest, bruise in the lumbar region
12/08/2011 around
4 a.m.
Orenburg traffic police
12/08/2011
The police officers hit him with their hands and feet on the head, torso and limbs, twisted an arm around his neck and used a taser gun against him.
Four traffic police officers
12/08/2011
at 5:07 a.m.; 16/08/2011
A note from Municipal Hospital no. 4; forensic medical report no. 6253; forensic medical report no. 6370
Municipal Hospital no. 4
Medical records revealed multiple injuries on the applicant’s head, chest, upper and lower limbs. Some of these injuries were paired at a distance of 2.5 to 4 cm which coincided with the two electrodes of the taser gun.
5.
11405/17
Taysinov
v. Russia
08/09/2011 at 6 a.m.
Orenburg region, Shilda Vokzalnaya St.
OMON UMVD in Orsk, Orenburg region
Arrest on charges of theft
During detention (on 08/09/2011)
MRO #1 Orsk, Orenburg region
Handcuffing, battery, psychological pressure
Police officers M., S., K1, K2
12/09/2011
Medical certificate
Forensic bureau of Orenburg region (Adamovskiy branch office)
Bruises on anterior surface of middle- and lower-third of dextral upper-arm (total - 1), on anterior surface of upper-third of sinistral upper-arm (total - 1), on superficies of sinistral knee-joint (total - 2), on superficies of the upper-third of dextral thighbone (total - 1); hematomas of soft tissues on superficies of lower-third sinistral surae; two scratches on internal surface of dextral ankle joint
No.
Application No. and Title
APPENDIX No. 2
Article 3 - Procedural aspect
DOMESTIC COMPLAINT AND THE GOVERNMENT REACTION
Date of
Complaint
Authority
Type of
Reaction
Date(s)
Procedural Outcome
1.
25400/10
Garmashov v. Russia
27/08/2008
Investigative Committee of Novorossiysk
Consistently refused
14/01/2010
The Investigative Committee several times refused to open an investigation. The applicant challenged refusal in the national court, but to no avail (Decision of the Oktyabrskysky District Court of Novorossiysk of the Krasnodar Region of 11/12/2008), as the decision to refuse to open an investigation was quashed by the investigator just before the hearing. The appeal against Prosecutor’s decision was discontinued and examined within criminal proceedings, the court questioned the witnesses of the alleged torture.
The decision to refuse to open an investigation was numerously quashed. Challenging the decision in court did not bring any results. The court’s examination of the applicant’s complaints was not thorough, as only full criminal investigation of the applicant’s complaints could have confirmed or rebutted his complaints.
2.
71889/11
Nikonorov v. Russia
16/06/08 - complaint to the prosecutor’s office
Investigators of the Cominternovskiy District of Voronezh
Consistently refused
Ten refusals to initiate criminal proceedings (first refusal - 14/08/2008, last - 19/10/2010). The applicant filed eight Article 125 complaints. (first decision - 24/11/2008 (first instance); last - 05/04/2011 (cassation appeal).
Ten refusals to initiate criminal proceedings were consistently set aside. The applicant filed eight Article 125 complaints. The complaints were constantly refused since some days prior to judicial decisions the refusals to initiate criminal proceedings had been reversed. Final decision - (Voronezh Region Court, cassation appeal) - refusal to initiate criminal proceedings.
Numerous refusals to initiate a criminal case, lack of sufficient reasoning (refusals are quite alike). No version explaining the origin of injuries
3.
19326/13
Sugaipov v. Russia
11/04/2010
Investigative Committee of the Republic of Kalmykia
Consistently refused
23/04/2010 investigation refused (annulled on 29/05/2010), 08/06/2012 investigation refused (annulled on 12/08/2012), 11/09/2012 investigation refused
Yashkul District Court of the Republic of Kalmykia, decision of 24/09/2012 on investigator’s inactivity (Cassation decision of 27/11/2012)
Refusals to bring criminal proceeding of 23/04/2010, 08/06/2012, 11/09/2012 and their annulments of 29/05/2010 and 12/08/2012; any other documents related to the inquiry into the applicant’s ill-treatment complaints
4.
26454/13
Arkhipov v. Russia
11/11/2011
the Investigative Committee of the city of Orenburg
Consistently refused
1/12/2011; 13/03/2012; 13/04/2012; 16/05/2012
after the 4th decision to decline to open a criminal investigation on 16/05/2012, the applicant filed an appeal under A125, on 20/08/2012 the Lenin District Court rejected the applicant’s appeal. This decision was upheld by the Orenburg Regional Court on 04/10/2012
According to the authorities’ version of events, the applicant was not subjected to ill-treatment
12-16/08/2011; 18/08/2011
the Department of Internal Affairs no. 3 of Orenburg; the Investigative Committee of Orenburg
Consistently refused
09/09/2011; 03/10/2011;04/10/2011; 07/10/2011; 07/11/2011; 25/01/2012; 22/03/2012; 28/06/2012; 12/10/2012; 09/01/2013
On 15/03/2013 the Central District Court rejected the applicant’s complaint because the decision of 09/01/2013 was annulled
According to the authorities’ version of events the applicant was not subjected to ill-treatment by police and all his injuries were self-inflicted
5.
11405/17
Taysinov v. Russia
09/09/2011
Prosecutor’s office - Adamovskiy district
Consistently refused
Refusals, inter alia, on 10/01/2016, 02/08/2016.
Multiple refusals to open criminal investigation
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