Those who were beaten are to blame

The criminal case of the beating of eight young people at the Sokolniki police station on April 4, 2008 was closed. As Vremya Novostei writes, the victims themselves and their lawyer Evgeniy Chernousov only recently became aware of this, although the decision was made in early August. Let us remind you that near the Sokolniki metro station, two police officers detained 18-year-old Vsevolod Ostapov for allegedly drinking beer. Ostapov, not considering himself guilty of the violation, began to argue. The police dragged him to the police station, but his friend, 25-year-old Kirill Karyazin, stood up for him. A crowd gathered and the police called for reinforcements, reporting a riot. Ostapov and Karyazin were forced into a police car using electric shocks and handcuffs and taken to the police station. The friends went there, and several more people were detained on the spot, including three minors. According to the stories of the detainees, the police promised them that they would kill them, beat their heads against the wall, hit them on the head with books, and tortured them with electric shocks. Despite the scandal, a criminal case was opened only in July. However, the young people were never recognized as victims, the police officers who carried out the outrage were never found, no identifications, no confrontations, or verification of the testimonies of the young people were carried out. But a year later, in July 2009, Vsevolod Ostapov was charged with allegedly spraying gas from a canister in the face of a policeman and then kicking him in the groin. In addition, the investigator noted in the decision that the victims were extremists, anti-fascists and communists who opposed the government because they participated in rallies against the Department of Internal Affairs. Meanwhile, the rallies took place, naturally, after the arrest and beating. Ostapov’s case was not brought to court: the prosecutor’s office returned him three times for further investigation, since it is unclear what exactly legal actions of the police he obstructed, and not a single violation charged against him was officially established. Lawyer Evgeny Chernousov noted that the case was dismissed “for lack of corpus delicti,” although such formulation is only possible if charges have already been filed. He assumes that police officers not identified by the investigation are on the list of interviewed 14 witnesses and police officers.