A court in Karachay-Cherkessia acquitted four of five police officers in the case of a detainee beaten to death

The Ust-Dzhegutinsky District Court of Karachay-Cherkessia, on the third attempt, pronounced a verdict in the case of five police officers accused of beating a detainee to death, acquitting four of them, according to a statement from the human rights organization “Public Verdict,” which represents the interests of the family of the deceased.

The police were accused of beating 26-year-old Murat Borlakov to death in the corridor of the local police department in 2014. The court hearing was twice postponed indefinitely.

The state prosecution asked to sentence the head of the criminal investigation department Murat Karaketov to 15 years in a maximum security colony, detectives Kazbek Batchaev and Askhat Laypanov to 12 years each, and the head of the police department Rasul Mamchuev and detective Taulan Aibazov to 10 years in prison each. The police were accused of exceeding their official powers and causing grievous bodily harm resulting in the death of the detainee (part 3 of article 286, part 4 of article 111 of the Criminal Code).

However, the court found only detective Laipanov guilty, sentencing him to imprisonment in a maximum security colony for seven years. The court acquitted the head of the police department, Mamchuev, the head of the criminal investigation department, Karaketov, and detectives Kazbek Batchaev and Taulan Aibazov and recognized their right to rehabilitation.

Murat Borlakov died in the Ust-Dzhegutinsky district police department on February 3, 2014, about an hour after his arrest. According to witnesses, Borlakov was beaten to death in the corridor of the police department. Contusions of the heart, lung, kidneys, bruises of the back, face, upper extremities and other injuries were found on the body.

“Public Verdict” notes that the beating was not related to the reason for the arrest, but to the conflict that occurred the day before between Borlakov and police chief Mamchuev.