Militia lieutenant condemned for use of torture in Yessentuki

The Yessentuki City Court sentenced a 24-year-old militia lieutenant for the use of torture against a suspect. The militiaman was put on probation for two years with a year's trial period. By the sentence, the convict is prohibited from holding posts in law-enforcement agencies for three years, reported a source at the city prosecutor's office. The public prosecutor proved that in June 2003, the lieutenant tied a local man to a chair with belts and beat him with the purpose of getting a confession from him. Then he put a gas-mask on the suspect and periodically limited the supply of oxygen to him by pressing the hose. The sentence was passed upon the militiaman by article 286, part 3 of the Russian Criminal Code (exceeding one's powers of office with the use of violence). The convict's defense has appealed against the sentence to the Stavropol Regional Court.