The ECHR awarded 25 thousand euros to a Nizhny Novgorod woman who was beaten by a riot policeman at the March of Millions

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered Russia to pay 25 thousand euros to Nizhny Novgorod resident Ekaterina Zaitseva, who suffered from the actions of a riot police officer during the “March of Millions”, which took place in September 2012. “Team Against Torture” writes about this.

During the protest, Zaitseva removed the helmet from a riot police officer, after which he hit her on the head with a baton. Doctors diagnosed the girl with a closed craniocerebral injury, a concussion and a contusion of the soft tissues of the head. Zaitseva wrote a statement against the riot police, but the court refused to initiate criminal proceedings against her six times.

In 2015, lawyers from the Committee Against Torture (the organization was recognized as a “foreign agent”, after which it announced its liquidation and now operates under the name “Team Against Torture”) filed a complaint regarding Zaitseva’s case to the ECHR.

The ECHR decision states that Zaitseva was subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment during her detention. In addition, the court found that the authorities did not conduct an effective investigation into the beating of the girl.

• On June 11, Vladimir Putin signed a law on Russia’s non-compliance with ECHR decisions that entered into force after March 15, 2022.
• After the “March of Millions” in Nizhny Novgorod, a criminal case was opened against the head of the local branch of The Other Russia, Yuri Staroverov, on charges of attacking a riot policeman who beat Zaitseva. Initially, the security officer claimed that Zaitseva also attacked him. In April 2014, Staroverov was sentenced to three years probation. On February 10, 2016, at the initiative of Center “E”, the Ostankino District Court of Moscowreplaced Staroverova’s suspended sentence with a real one in a general regime colony. On February 10, 2017, the Presidium of the Moscow City Court replaced the place of serving the sentence with a colony-settlement. On February 4, 2019, Staroverov was released.