ECtHR obliges Russian authorities to pay compensation to a resident of Dagestan

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found a violation of the right to a fair trial of Abutalip Shakhruev, a resident of Makhachkala, who was sentenced to 11 years of imprisonment based on his testimony obtained under torture. The Strasbourg Court obliged the Russian authorities to pay the resident of Makhachkala the compensation of 52,000 euros.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that after the detention of Abutalip Shakhruev, the police forced him to incriminate himself by torture. In March 2018, a court in Makhachkala sentenced him to 11 years of imprisonment in a high-security penal colony in a case on aiding and abetting militants.

According to a complaint filed to the ECtHR, on July 5, 2017, employees of the Centre for Combating Extremism in Dagestan detained Abutalip Shakhruev near the village of Semender in Dagestan on suspicion of participation in an illegal armed formation (IAF). Law enforcers were beating him on his head, torturing him with electric current, and strangling him with plastic bags, while forcing him to confess to terrorist crimes. On the other day, the suspect confessed to the crimes.

On October 3, 2017, Abutalip Shakhruev complained to an investigator about the brutal treatment, but the investigator refused to institute a criminal case and referred to the statements by the law enforcers, who refuted the complainant’s allegations.