An ex-policeman wins a 20-thousand-ruble payout against the Yaroslavl Ministry of Internal Affairs for arbitrary detention at a rally in support of Navalny

On September 27, the Rybinsk Town Court awarded 20 thousand rubles to ex-policeman Oleg Kashintsev for arbitrary detention at an unagreed rally in support of Alexei Navalny on January 31. Law enforcement officers detained a man after he held a picket with a poster saying, "Freedom to Navalny, the old man should retire" in the central square of Rybinsk. An administrative violation case was initiated against him. However, the court sided with Kashintsev. After that, the ex-policeman demanded compensation of 300 thousand rubles from the Yaroslavl Ministry of Internal Affairs and won the lawsuit again, but the amount of compensation was reduced by 15 times. Kashintsev told 7x7 about this.

Oleg Kashintsev filed a lawsuit against the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs in June 2021. He reported in it that law enforcement officers had detained him with no explanation, brought him to the police department, where he had been kept for three hours, and then initiated an administrative violation case. Kashintsev added in the lawsuit (7x7 has it) that he had to travel to Yaroslavl, 80 km away from his home, at his own expense from April to June during the trial.

Kashintsev believes that the police violated his right to freedom of expression. According to him, he was depressed for five months, had troubles sleeping and eating, felt worse, and his diseases got exacerbated because of the incident.

"My attitude to law enforcement agencies was shaken, because instead of the expected protection of a citizen's rights and freedoms, they illegally persecuted me for the exercise of constitutional rights and freedoms. Being brutally detained in a public place in full view of citizens and the media, as well as being then brought to the police department and subsequently administratively prosecuted, groundlessly questioned my fair name as a decent citizen of the Russian Federation and a retired police major," Kashintsev wrote.

The trial lasted from June to September. Kashintsev told 7x7 that the judge had agreed to interview his mother as a witness only the second time. According to him, she saw his "moral suffering due to police persecution." Kashintsev noted that during the court session, the representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs had been suggesting answers to questions to a third party — an employee of the department for the enforcement of administrative legislation of the Rybinsk police.

On September 27, the Rybinsk Town Court ruled that the local and Yaroslavl Ministries of Internal Affairs should have paid 20 thousand rubles of compensation to Oleg Kashintsev for arbitrary detention and administrative prosecution. Despite the fact that the judge reduced the amount of compensation by 15 times, the former police major said that he would not appeal the ruling.

"The amount of compensation is small compared to what I requested. But the main thing here is victory. I want to transfer part of the money to the OVD-Info Human Rights Organization. The trial's result is good for me. But I understand that if the police were not chasing solved crimes [promotions] and did not want to punish me at all costs, they could have arranged it in such a way that I would have lost all the lawsuits. In general, as a former police officer, I negatively assess the actions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which has become one of the tools for retaining power. A normal uniformed person will not come to activists and oppositionists to catch them," Kashintsev said.

Retired police major Oleg Kashintsev from Rybinsk was a policeman for 18 years; he worked in the criminal investigation department for 14 of them. He shared the liberal outlook, took part in protests, and realized in 2019 that the work no longer met his views. He was detained by his own colleagues during the protests in the winter and spring of 2021.

According to 7x7, Kashintsev has become the third Russian to win a payout against the Ministry of Internal Affairs for arbitrary detention at a rally in support of Alexei Navalny in 2021. Kirill Petrov from Vladivostok was the first one to win a 10-thousand-ruble payout against the local police. He was detained at an unagreed rally on January 31, a case was opened against him, and later, he was fined for 15 thousand rubles. Then the court overturned this judgement, and he filed a lawsuit against the police.

The second person to receive compensation was Timur Rakhmatullin, a lawyer of the Committee Against Torture from Orenburg who was awarded 5 thousand rubles (80 times less than the requested amount). Unknown people in civilian clothes detained him at the rally on January 31, drew up a protocol on disregarding police officers against him and brought him to a detention room. But the court did not find an offense in Rakhmatullin's actions and released him.

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