In Sochi, OMON fighters sentenced to 3-5 years in colony for beating teenagers

In Sochi today, a sentence was passed to eight OMON (Special Militia) fighters, accused of mass beating tourists in the children's boarding house "Druzhba" (Friendship). They will have to spend from three to five years in a colony.

The announcement of the verdict to former employees of the OMON of the Department of Internal Affairs of the city of Sochi, accused of mass beatings committed in July 2006, started on October 14 in the Lazarevskoe District Court of Sochi. In total, 29 persons were recognized as victims, several minors among them.

Oleg Novikov, head of the press service of the Fund "Public Verdict", has reported today that the court awarded real, not conditional, imprisonment terms to all the OMON fighters.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that at night on June 17, 2006, two drunken Sochi OMON fighters in civil clothes began to accost to girls in a cafe situated in Nizhnee Makopse settlement of Sochi, provoking a conflict with the young man who danced with the girls. Two men from Rostov who witnessed the conflict tried to rebuke the hooligans. Then, a fight burst out among them, and the militiamen were heavily beaten.

At night on July 19, 2006, some 30-50 OMON fighters arrived to Nizhnee Makopse. They began detaining all teenagers and males, making use of physical force, electric shockers and bamboo sticks. According to the victims, some of them were armed with sub-machine guns.

The most massive detention was made in that very cafe in the seacoast, where the two militiamen had been beaten two days before. The cafe was full of young people. The attackers threw them out over the cafe fence and placed face down on the coast. The detainees were beaten with sticks and struck with shockers. Then, they were bright to Lazarevskoe ROVD (District Militia Station), where, according to parents, victims were not allowed to use medical aid.

According to detainees, they were forced, under threat of violence, to sign explanations stating that they had no claims to militiamen.