In Tatarstan, two operatives were accused of attacking lawyers, illegal weapons trafficking and falsifying evidence

In Tatarstan, two employees of the department for combating organized crime of the criminal investigation department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tatarstan in Naberezhnye Chelny were charged with assault on lawyers, illegal trafficking in weapons and falsification of evidence.

According to lawyer Irina Khrunova, who collaborates with the human rights organization “Zone of Law,” operatives Timur Garifullin and Ilgam Safin are charged with Part 3 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code (exceeding official powers with the use of violence and special means, as well as causing grave consequences), Part 2 of Article 222 Criminal Code (illegal trafficking in weapons committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy) and parts 3, 4 of Article 303 of the Criminal Code (falsification of evidence in a criminal case and the results of operational investigative activities).

According to investigators, on August 17, 2016, operatives Garifullin and Safin, together with riot police officers from Tatarstan, burst into the Naberezhnye Chelny Bar Association with machine guns. There they beat three lawyers who were at work and two unarmed men. One of the victims was diagnosed with a closed rib fracture.

In February 2017, the case file says, operatives bought a sawed-off shotgun and provided the convicted person with a mobile phone so that he could find a person willing to admit to illegal weapons trafficking. Later they persuaded a local resident to confess to the crime. As a result, a case was opened against him under Part 1 of Article 222 (illegal possession of weapons).

In April 2017, the investigator filed a petition with the court to select a preventive measure for the operatives in the form of detention (previously they were under recognizance not to leave). However, the Naberezhnye Chelny City Court refused to satisfy it.