In Krasnodar, a case has been opened regarding the kidnapping of a businessman, who, after being tortured, was arrested for petty hooliganism

The Investigative Committee in Krasnodar opened a criminal case for abuse of power with the use of violence (clause “a” of part 3 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code) regarding the kidnapping of businessman Aram Gambaryan, who was kidnapped and tortured on March 21, 2017, and the next day was arrested for 10 days for petty crime hooliganism.

This was reported by the Committee Against Torture, whose lawyers represent Gambaryan’s interests. The case was initiated a year after the Krasnodar resident contacted law enforcement agencies; earlier the Investigative Committee issued eight decisions refusing to initiate the case.

According to Aram Ghambaryan, on March 21, when he was driving down the street in a car, his car was blocked by a minibus, from which armed masked people ran out, shouting “the FSB is working,” they dragged the businessman into their car and took him into the forest.

“They threw me on my back and began to kick me in all parts of my body, especially targeting my thighs and knees, as well as my right shoulder. They pulled off my trousers and underwear. A man sat on my chest and started asking questions,” the man recalled.

For six hours, Gambaryan, according to him, was beaten, including with a stun gun, and then taken to the Investigative Committee for interrogation as a witness in the case of the attempted murder of businessman Mindia Gul. After a night spent in police custody, the man was taken to the Seversky District Court, where he was arrested for 10 days under Article 20.1 of the Administrative Code (petty hooliganism). The court decision states that on the morning of March 22, Gambaryan “undirectly and without cause expressed himself with gross obscene language” in a public place.

While the businessman was serving administrative arrest, he said, security forces came to him and offered to “conclude a cooperation agreement.”

“Investigators for a long time preferred the version of the police officers, according to which on the morning of March 21, Aram was not abducted, but, on the instructions of an investigator of the Investigative Committee, was found and brought to him for questioning as a witness. For some reason, Gambaryan sat in the investigative department until the evening, after which he was examined with the participation of a forensic expert for the presence of bodily injuries, which were not found. Then the investigator interrogated Gambaryan as a witness and released him. The next morning, Aram was walking down the street, violating public order, and he was detained by the police,” notes the Committee Against Torture.

Lawyer Sergei Romanov, in a conversation with Mediazona, noted that the investigator in the case will only deal with the issue of the abduction and torture of Gambaryan, and everything related to the possible falsification of court materials will be separated into a separate proceeding and sent under jurisdiction to another department.

“Mediazona” wrote about what happened to Gambaryan in an article about how in the Krasnodar Territory, people whom the FSB was interested in found themselves under administrative arrest for swearing in a public place, and while serving their sentences they were threatened by security officers.

Thus, Parviz Muradov was arrested five times, he spent 34 days in a temporary detention center. The materials of administrative cases state that Muradov left the temporary detention facility, soon began to swear and was detained several tens of meters from the place where he was serving his sentence.