The ECHR awarded compensation to Voronezh entrepreneurs detained and beaten in 2009

The European Court of Human Rights has awarded 53,000 euros in compensation to eight businessmen from Voronezh who were detained and beaten in 2009 during protests over government plans to demolish Southwestern Market.

The decision, taken on July 25, is reported on the website of the court.

As lawyer Olga Gnezdilova, who represented the interests of entrepreneurs at the ECHR, explained to OVD-Info, a total of 14 people filed a complaint, but the court ruled to pay compensation to those who were beaten during detention and / or subjected to administrative arrest.

After the authorities decided to demolish the market, the entrepreneurs, with whom the lease contracts were terminated ahead of schedule, filed complaints with the arbitration court and, until its decision, began to be on duty in the market building at night, the 7 × 7 publication . reports On August 7, 2009, seven protesters were detained early in the morning.

Some of the detainees were subjected to force by the police. The message on the website of the court says that the wife of Mikhail Annenkov, one of the detainees, who was already 71 years old at the time of detention, filed a complaint with the investigative department due to the fact that the policeman hit her husband in the chest so that he fell and hit his head on table. Directly on the day of Annenkov's arrest, doctors examined him and found a wound on his head and a bruise on his arm. According to Gnezdilova, after an x-ray, Annenkov was also diagnosed with a broken rib.

The next day, the detainees Yelena Suprunova, Olga Zakharova and Yelena Guseva sought medical help; doctors found bruises and abrasions on them. They complained that the policeman pulled Zakharova by the hair, and Guseva was pushed so that she fell.

The detainees Mikhail Finsky and Igor Khripunov under the article on disobedience to the lawful demands of police officers were arrested for five days, Nikolai Khavantsev - for ten days. The rest of the detainees - Suprunova, Zakharova, Guseva and Annenkov - were fined, according to a statement on the ECHR website. Decisions on arrest were upheld, decisions on fines, according to Gnezdilova, were canceled in the court of appeal.

On August 10, about twenty people were detained on the territory of the market. One of the detainees, Gennady Buzov, was arrested for ten days. Several other detainees were fined, but the appellate court overturned these decisions as well. The decision to arrest Buzov was upheld, according to the website of the court.

The initiation of a case on the use of force against the detainees was denied.