From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 8/1/2005 2:37 AM
29.7.2005 12:44 MSK
New trial of policeman accused of torture
RUSSIA, Kazan. On July 28th, in the Novy-Savinovsky Court of Kazan, a new trial began in the case of former criminal investigator Vladimir lyamzin. He is charged with exceeding official authority in the application of violence, according to the Human Rights Center of Kazan.

Two months ago, a court sentenced the former policeman to a conditional sentence of five years in prison and deprived him of the right to work in law enforcement agencies for three years. The procuratorship of Novy-Savinovsky believed this punishment was too mild and appealed to the Judicial Board of the Supreme Court of Tatarstan, which abolished the sentence as being too mild and called for a new trial.

In the course of the previous trial, a torture victim described that on May 13, 2004, he and his two friends were delayed on suspicion of theft of a cell phone. They were taken to one of the divisions of the police UVD in Novy-Savinovsky. At around 11:00pm, one of the detained was led into an office on the second floor. As was explained later, this was the office of lyamzin. He told the victim to confess to the theft of the cell phone. The detainee refused, stating that he was innocent.

The police officers told him it would be better to acknowledge the crime immediately, as they had "three steps" to getting a confession, which no one could bear. They subjected him to torture, and he agreed to write "everything that was necessary". The detainee was then led back into the cell, where his friends were.

One of them was forced to acknowledge the theft of the cell phone and to slander his friend. The young men were then released. They immediately went to a trauma center where their injuries were recorded: wide rope marks on the neck, bruises on the chest, back, upper extremities, and thigh, and abrasions on the forearms.

On June 16, 2004, the procuratorship of the Novy-Savinovsky Region filed a criminal case with respect to one of the police officers. After an investigation was conducted, the matter was directed to a court.

The victims, on the recommendation of the procuratorship, reported to the Human Rights Center of Kazan, whose specialists conducted their own public investigation and, with the assistance of the fund "Public Verdict", provided them with an attorney.

“In court we will insist on the examination of the former management of Police Department "Block 60" and of the Novy-Savinovsky RUVD as witnesses. It was they who permitted police lawlessness to enter the system. Specifically, we want them to name the practice of “three steps” of torture, noted the attorney for victim Ramil Akhmetgaliyev.

Translated by OM Kenney
PRIMA-News Agency [2005-07-28-Rus-36]
http://www.prima-news.ru/eng/news/news/2005/7/29/33112.html