Human rights activists asked Bastrykin to check the investigators who did not notice the couple beaten by the police

Human rights activists appealed to the head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, with a request to conduct an internal audit of investigators who have repeatedly made decisions to stop investigating the beating of a married couple by police in Nizhny Novgorod. This was reported on the website of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture.

As reported in the organization’s press release, Alexander Bastrykin is being asked to conduct an internal audit of the deputy head of the investigative department for the Sormovsky district of Nizhny Novgorod, Maria Chuschevina, as well as the head of this department, Andrei Kablov.

“The reason for the human rights activist’s appeal was the repeated issuance by employees of the Investigative Committee of illegal procedural decisions and the lack of proper control during the verification of the statement of Nizhny Novgorod residents Dmitry Kamzolov and his common-law wife Lyubov Abramova about their beating by private security officers in 2014,” the human rights activists said in a statement.

In February 2014, Dmitry Kamzolov and his common-law wife Lyubov Abramova contacted the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, who reported that on February 10 they were beaten by private security officers in their own apartment. According to Abramova, the police came after she had a conflict with a woman who was trying to park on the lawn and blocking the passage for pedestrians. During the conflict, a brawl occurred between the women, which was interrupted by her common-law husband Dmitry Kamzolov. After this, the owner of the car threatened the couple with problems, saying that her “husband is a cop.”

“According to the couple, at about eight o’clock in the evening a bell rang in their apartment. Lyubov opened the door, and two police officers entered the vestibule. Without introducing themselves or explaining the reason for the visit, they began shouting: “Where is your man?!” Dmitry came out into the hallway in response to the noise and was immediately punched in the face. As Kamzolov recalls, he didn’t even have time to say or do anything, let alone offer resistance. Then, according to the spouses, two police officers beat them with rubber batons and their hands, and to top off the execution, handcuffed them. “The police officers did not explain the reasons for their actions: they smiled and beat,” said Lyubov Abramova. After this, Dmitry Kamzolov was taken to police department No. 8. On the same day, he was examined at the regional trauma center, where he had numerous abrasions and bruises. Traces of beatings were also recorded by Lyubov Abramova,” the organization’s press release says.

On February 20, 2014, human rights activists contacted the investigative department with a report of a crime. On April 16, the investigator issued a decision to refuse to initiate a criminal case. Lawyers appealed this decision, but the court also declared the refusal legal.

On June 27, 2015, the deputy head of the investigative department, Maria Senschuvinova, again issued a decision to refuse to initiate a criminal case.

On July 26, 2016, the Sormovsky District Court declared the resolution illegal and identified seven violations committed by investigator Senschuvinova. The judge pointed out that the investigator did not take into account the fact that Abramova and Kamzolov were severely beaten, and the police said that they used force only to the extent necessary to protect themselves.