Rights defenders point to inefficiency of inquiry into torture of Anapa residents

Investigators have conducted an inadequate check of the statements of three residents of the city of Anapa about torture, and again refused to initiate criminal cases, the Committee Against Torture (CAT) has stated today. Rights defenders demand a deeper investigation.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Tigran Grigoryan, Artyom Beglaryan and Grigory Achkasov, residents of Anapa, stated that they had been beaten up and tortured with electric current after being detained in December 2015. According to their version, they were forced to confess to a robbery of an elderly couple. In July 2016, all the three were sentenced to prison terms.

On August 15, CAT lawyers received a copy of the refusal to initiate a criminal case on Beglaryan's and Achkasov's applications of torture, the CAT has reported on its website today. The refusal was dated July 16, rights defenders have specified.

According to Sergey Romanov, a CAT lawyer, the refusal is justified by the conviction passed by the court to Grigoryan, Beglaryan and Achkasov. Besides, investigators have doubted their testimonies, as they are "interested persons." However, according to lawyer Romanov, there was no questioning of their cellmates, of the witnesses of Beglaryan's detention, and of the law enforcers, who had fixed his bodily injuries.

"Beglaryan has not been questioned yet with the participation of an advocate and an interpreter. (This) does not allow us to consider the check as efficient; therefore, we'll seek its resumption," the CAT's website quotes Sergey Romanov as saying.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 16, 2018 at 01:54 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.