"Memorial" achieves conviction of policeman for beating teens in KBR

The court of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) has sentenced Asker Abidov, an employee of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Chegem ROVD (District Interior Division) to four years of imprisonment for beating adolescents.

The interests of the victims were represented by the lawyer Eva Chanieva, who works under agreement with the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that, according to investigators, in October 2012, former and current employees of the republic's Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) used to beat up and torture minors, trying to knock out their confessions of their involvement in the armed underground.

Judge Marat Kushkhov found Asker Abidov guilty and sentenced him to imprisonment for 3.5 years for each of the two imputed episodes. By the partial summation of sentences, the court defined the final sentence as 4 years in a general security colony, followed by deprivation of the right to hold positions in law enforcement bodies for 1.5 years, the HRC "Memorial" reports.

"Besides, the judge partially granted the civil claim lodged by the victims and awarded them – Murat Bekshokov and Asker Kursakov with 150,000 and 100,000 roubles, respectively, as compensation for moral harm," says the press release of the HRC "Memorial", received by the "Caucasian Knot".

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.