22:56, 30 October 2018

Resident of Dagestan complains about torture to ECtHR

The European Court of Human Rights. Photo REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

After the detention of Abutalip Shakhruev, a resident of Makhachkala, law enforcers forced him by torture to defame himself. Shakhruev has filed a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

The complaint of Shakhruev raises the issue of violating three articles of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR).

In July 2017, law enforcers stopped Shakhruev's car in Makhachkala. They beat him up and forced him to confess to having links with militants, the human rights organization "Zona Prava" (Law Zone) reports.

According to Shakhruev, he was tortured with electric current and a package that was put over his head. Unable to withstand the torture, he defamed himself; and a criminal case was initiated against him about involvement in an illegal armed formation (IAF).

Doctors fixed Shakhruev's injuries, but investigators refused to open a criminal case against law enforcers. In March 2018, the court sentenced him to 11 years in a high-security colony.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 30, 2018 at 05:06 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.