The Investigative Committee refused to initiate a case against police officers from Kabardino-Balkaria who used force against three lawyers

The Office of the Investigative Committee for the North Caucasus Federal District refused to initiate a case of police attacking lawyers from Kabardino-Balkaria. This was reported by Advokatskaya Gazeta with reference to the text of the resolution dated December 23.

In May 2020, police detained lawyer Ratmir Zhilokov in Nartkal during an inspection of the trustee’s premises. The three lawyers who arrived at the Urvansky Department of Internal Affairs were pushed out of the department by the police.

One of them, Diana Tsipinova, had her arms twisted, handcuffed and, threatened with rape, dragged inside. The lawyers were released in the morning with reports of failure to comply with the demands of the police (Part 1 of Article 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses), and a week later they were detained in a criminal case of using violence against police officers (Part 1 of Article 318 of the Criminal Code).

The investigator did not inform them of the results of the investigation on their complaint for several months, and in September last year the court recognized his inaction. The decision to refuse to initiate proceedings against the police states that they only “pushed” the lawyers out of the department, but did not inflict any “blows” on them. The use of handcuffs on Tsipinova there is explained by “threats to the health of a police officer” on her part.