St. Petersburg man detained by police, dies the next day

The St. Petersburg police detained Vladislav Shushmintsev, 29, on 16 October. The man was later rushed to a hospital and the next day he died from a head injury, the Crew Against Torture NGO told the Bumaga media outlet.

On the day of detention, Shushmintsev tried to get into his flat through the window because he did not have keys. Bumaga claims that his mother called emergency response service since she was scared for him. The police were first to arrive at the scene and tried to detain him.

According to the Crew Against Torture, it took the police officers 90 minutes to detain Shushmintsev. CCTV camera footage provided by the activists shows the officers shoving him around and flooring him several times.

The Crew Against Torture spoke to one of the eyewitnesses. He saw a police officer trample on the man, while another says he heard Shushmintsev calling for help. Meanwhile, several more witnesses told the activists that the detention did not include any force.

An ambulance was called while Shushmintsev was being detained, but doctors did not immediately taken away, the activists learnt. According to Shushmintsev’s wife Maria, her husband was taken to a hospital in state of clinical death, doctors put him in medically induced coma. The next day, 17 October, Shushmintsev died from injury-caused brain edema and hemorrhage.

“We are looking for more witnesses and trying to understand what happened in the ambulance. The video footage provided shows the car violently rocking, but it is not clear what was happening there. It is also unclear why Shushmintsev was not immediately rushed to the hospital and who called the ambulance,” said Yulia Fedotova, the Crew Against Torture’s lawyer.

Maria Shushmintseva filed a request to look into her husband’s death with the Russian Investigative Committee.