Volgograd resident wins case in ECtHR against Russia about his beating in SIZO

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled to collect from the Russian authorities 11,000 euros in favour of Gennady Shuvalov, a 38-year-old ex-policeman from Volgograd, who was sentenced in 2006 for selling drug and who complained of having been beaten at the SIZO (pre-trial prison). This is reported by the press service of the ECtHR.

In 2006, Gennady Shuvalov was sentenced to five years and four months of imprisonment for selling drugs. In his complaint the applicant stated that in 2002 a staff member of SIZO No. 4 of the Main Directorate for the Volgograd Region of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (known as FSIN), where the defendant was placed during the criminal proceedings, beat him with a rubber truncheon. According to Shuvalov, his injuries were registered only in several days, when he felt bad during the court session, and the court had to call an ambulance.

Gennady Shuvalov referred to violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (prohibition of torture). The court agreed with the arguments of the complainant and collected in his favour 11,000 euros, the "RIA Novosti" reports.

The ECtHR ruled on the complaints of other three Russian citizens. They are: Vladimir Buldashev, the 59-year-old native of Chelyabinsk Region, who was sentenced to 22 years of imprisonment for murder, fraud and misappropriation of money (he was awarded a compensation of 20,000 euros); Anatoly Cherkasov, the 55-year-old resident of the village of Ramon of Voronezh Region (compensation of 20,000 euros), and a 45-year-old convicted from St. Petersburg, who preferred to remain anonymous (compensation of 15,000 euros), the "Volgograd-Times" reports.

The Strasbourg ECtHR ruled the decision on these four complaints from Russia on October 18, the Interregional Human Rights Association "AGORA" emphasizes.