Communicated on 25 April 2019
THIRD SECTION
Application no. 68434/17
Radik Rinatovich GILMUTDINOV against Russia
and 4 other applications
(see list appended)
The applicants are all Russian nationals living in various regions of Russia. The facts of the cases, as submitted by the applicants, may be summarised as follows.
A. The circumstances of the cases
Between 2011 and 2017, the applicants were arrested on suspicion of having committed criminal offences in different regions of the Russian Federation.
They allege that during and/or after their arrest they were beaten and subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment by the use of gas masks and electric shocks. The applicants provide different medical documents drawn up shortly after their arrest and describing their injuries (for more details see the Appendix).
Their criminal complaints lodged against police officers were rejected on various grounds (for more details see the Appendix).
The applicants’ personal details as well as other relevant information about the circumstances of their respective detentions and their attempts to complain about ill-treatment at domestic level, and other complaints, are summarised in the Appendix.
B. Relevant domestic law and practice
For the relevant provisions of domestic law, see Lyapin v. Russia (no. 46956/09, §§ 96-102, 24 July 2014) and Ryabtsev v. Russia (no. 13642/06, §§ 48-52, 14 November 2013).
COMPLAINTS
All applicants complain under Article 3 of the Convention about ill‑treatment in police custody and about the lack of an effective investigation in this respect. Certain applicants raised in addition specific complaints, including those subject to the well-established practice, which are outlined in the Appendix.
COMMON QUESTIONS
1. Having regard to the injuries found on the applicants in police custody, have the applicants been subjected to torture, or inhuman or degrading treatment, in breach of Articles 3 and 13 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 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 official investigation into the applicants’ allegations of ill-treatment in police custody as required by Article 3 of the Convention (see Labita v. Italy [GC], no. 26772/95, § 131, ECHR 2000‑IV, and Lyapin v. Russia, no. 46956/09, §§ 125-40, 24 July 2014)?
As regards applications no. 68434/17 (Gilmutdinov), no. 41692/18 (Amakhanov), no. 46636/18 (Sveshnikov)
In particular, were the applicants’ forensic medical examinations carried out in compliance with the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment’s (CPT) standards, which are regularly taken into account by the Court in its examination of cases concerning ill-treatment (see Özgür Uyanık v. Turkey, no. 11068/04, § 36, 23 March 2010; Barabanshchikov v. Russia, no. 36220/02, §§ 48 and 59, 8 January 2009; and Ochelkov v. Russia, no. 17828/05, § 103, 11 April 2013)?
CASE SPECIFIC QUESTION
Application no. 48932/18 (Mr Mazurin)
Having regard to the use of the applicant’s confession statements made following ill-treatment allegedly sustained in police custody for the purposes of his conviction, did he have a fair trial as required by Article 6 § 1 of the Convention?
GILMUTDINOV v. RUSSIA and 6 other cases – NEW CASES1
APPENDIX
No.
Applicant name
Date of birth
Application no.
Lodged on
Place of residence
Represented by
Details about arrest, location of the police station
Arrest record
(if available)
Medical evidence:
date of the document,
document type
Applicants’ complaints about ill treatment to the domestic authorities (first complaint, latest refusal to open a criminal case and reasons for refusal,
the latest domestic courts’ decision under Art. 125 CCrP and reasoning)
Applicants’ trial and appeal courts’ judgments and the results of the examination of their allegations of ill‑treatment, if any
Other complaints
Radik Rinatovich GILMUTDINOV
15/02/1978
68434/17
03/04/2018
Krasnoyarsk
Taken into custody by the decision of the Vokhitovskiy district court in Kazan and placed to IVS on 05/04/2011
Taken to police department no. 6 on 07/04/2011 between 9.00-11.00 p.m.
Forensic medical examination act no. 3145/3103 of 29/04/2011
conducted on 11/04/2011:
Bruise on the left hip, abrasion on the right lower leg caused within 6‑10 days before the examination, bruises in the left knee area caused within 3-5 days; injuries were caused by use of a hard blunt object
Police officer F. present during the examination
First complaint of 08/04/2011
Latest (7th) refusal to open a criminal case of
08/04/2017
14/09/2017
Sovetskiy District Court
22/12/2017
Supreme Court of Tatarstan
(the injuries have been caused prior to the arrest)
Supreme Court of Tatarstan
Convicted on 04/08/2014
Chingiz Ibragimovich AMAKHANOV
28/07/1980
41692/18
16/08/2018
Krasnodar
Tatyana Aleksandrovna TRETYAK
Arrested on 09/09/2014 at 12.00 p.m. at the applicant’s work place by police criminal officers in Krasnodar (уголовный розыск МВД по г. Краснодар) on suspicion of murder
Taken to the police department in Krasnodar (УМВД по г. Краснодар)
Arrest record drawn up on 09/09/2014 at 10.40 p.m.
Forensic medical examination act no. 5370/2014 of 10/09/2014 (at 3.30 p.m.):
Bruises on the face, back formed with a day before the examination
Police officer A. present during the examination
Medical card issued by hospital no. 1 of 11/09/2014
IVS medical act of 11/09/2014
Bruises on the back, both wrists, left eyelid
First complaint of 27/11/2014
Latest (6th) refusal of 25/06/2018
(the applicant’s unfounded allegations aimed to evade criminal responsibility)
Criminal proceedings against the applicant are pending
Article 5 § 3
Length of pre-trial detention
09/09/2014 – pending
4 years 5 months
Vladislav Andreyevich GMYRYA
12/09/1990
44879/18
06/09/2018
Krasnodar
Leonid Nikolayevich MAKHOVITSKIY
Arrested on 28/08/2017 at around 1.40 p.m. by the road by police officers of the police department in Krasnodar (УМВД России по г. Краснодар) on suspicion of murder
Photos
Medical card no. 100705 issued by hospital on 28/08/2017
IVS medical act of 29/08/2017 (3.55 a.m.)
Note of the hospital of 27/03/2018 confirming that the applicant was hospitalised on 07/09/2017 to the emergency medical care unit having hematomas on the face, head, forearms, hematoma under the left eye, minor concussion
First complaint of 01/09/2017
Latest (3rd) refusal of 12/04/2018
08/06/2018
Prikubanskiy District Court
25/07/2018
Krasnodar Regional Court
(the injuries are due to the force used in response to the applicant’s active resistance during the arrest)
Criminal proceedings against the applicant are pending
Article 3
Conditions of detention
IZ-23/1 in Krasnodar
07/09/2017 - pending
Anti-sanitary conditions, rodents, rats, toilet within 1 m from a sleeping place partitioned by an iron slab (1 m high), no light, 10 minutes of shower once a week, outside walks 10 minutes in 3 days, cold food.
Conditions of transportation in a van (no heating, ventilation, trips up to 3 hours)
Article 5 § 3
Length of pre-trial detention
30/08/2017 – pending
1 year 5 months
Georgiy Georgiyevich SVESHNIKOV
06/03/1999
46636/18
28/09/2018
Sochi
Yekaterina VANSLOVA
Arrested on 28/04/2017 around 10 p.m. in the school
Taken to the police department in Sochi (УВД по г. Сочи) for questioning as a witness and held there until 5.50 p.m.
Medical card no. C-17-21485 of
29/04/2017 issued by hospital no. 4:
Head injury
Surgeon examination on
30/04/2017:
Soft tissue bruises on the back
Forensic medical examination act no. 185 of 03/07/2017
conducted on 11/05/2017:
Bruise near the left eye and temple, insufficient information about the morphological characteristics of injuries
First complaint on 04/05/2017
Latest (2nd) refusal of 30/09/2017
15/12/2017
Prosecutor of the Lazarevskiy district (unfounded allegations of ill-treatment)
26/06/2018
Lazarevskiy District Court
15/08/2018
Krasnodarskiy Regional Court
(the appeal dismissed with reference to the prosecutor’s decision)
Criminal proceedings against the applicant were terminated
Dmitriy Vladimirovich MAZURIN
13/11/1978
48932/18
28/09/2018
Orenburg
Arrested on 09/05/2017 in the applicant’s flat by riot police officers (СОБР по Оренбургской области)
09/05/2017
Confessed during interview as a suspect in the presence of lawyer M.
27/07/2017
Reiterated confession statements during interview as an accused in the presence of lawyer S. of his choosing
IZ-1 Medical act no. 106 of 11/05/2017
Bruises on soft tissues of the face, multiple hematomas on the right shoulder, abrasions on the right forearm, in the left scapular zone, in the temple area
Extract from IVS medical journal (no date)
An abrasion under the right eye
The applicant complained in trial
20/10/2017
Leninskiy District Court
ordered an inquiry into the allegations of ill‑treatment
21/02/2018
Refusal to open a criminal case
(the injuries have been caused before the arrest)
Leninskiy District Court
Convicted on 19/03/2018
(the applicant’s allegations of ill-treatment have been examined and dismissed by the refusal to open a criminal case; confession statements given in the presence of a lawyer)
15/05/2018
Orenburg Regional Court
upheld the conviction
Article 3
Conditions of detention
23/03/2018-30/05/2018
IZ-1 in Orenburg (overcrowding 2 sq.m. per person)
Article 6 § 1
Use of confession obtained under duress in his conviction
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