In Dagestan, policemen accused of beating teenager refuse to plead guilty

On May 3, in the course of the judicial session on the case of policemen's beating a 14-year-old teenager, which is considered by the Shamil District Court of Dagestan, the defendants claimed that they rejected all the presented charges. One of the witnesses, who had earlier claimed that he saw a beaten boy at the ROVD (District Interior Division), changed his evidence in court.

The hearings are held public (open). At the first session held on April 29 the indictment was announced, the victims - the teenager himself, his parents Aishat Guseinova and Khiramagomed Akhmedov - and the defendants gave their evidences. The following witnesses also spoke there: Aliaskhab Nuruchinov - the policeman-driver of the police car, which took the teenager to the ROVD, and the boy's aunt Patimat Akhmedova, who saw the district policeman Magomed Magomedov taking the boy out of the house.

The courtroom was full of relatives of the victim and the defendants, as well as employees of the Shamil ROVD. Many had to stand outside because the courtroom was no empty seats, according to the message of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" received by the "Caucasian Knot".

The session was also attended by observers, rights defenders and journalists: Svetlana Isaeva ("Mothers of Dagestan"), Zakir Magomedov (Avar newspaper "Istina"), Sirazhutdin Datsiev and Shamil Gadjiev (employees of the HRC "Memorial"). The interests of the victim are represented by lawyer Aziz Kurbanov, working on agreement with the "Memorial". The injured teenager was provided with an interpreter - an educator of one of the schools of the village of Khebda.

On May 3, the court questioned the witness of the prosecution - Khalisha Akhmedov, head of the GIBDD (traffic police) of the Shamil District and the victim's uncle. He confirmed his evidence, given at the stage of preliminary investigation.

The court also interrogated the witness Musa Magomedov, who was in the ROVD, when, as investigators had established, the boy was beaten. In the course of preliminary investigation he stated that he saw the teenager beaten, but at the court Magomedov changed his evidence, saying that he saw the boy at the ROVD, but did not see that he was beaten.

In the course of the judicial inquiry, the court also questioned the Public Prosecutor of the Shamil District Ramazan Omarov, who said that Aishat Guseinova, mother of the beaten boy, came to see him in the morning after the boy was beaten and he really saw bruises on the boy's body; and his hair was cut. However, the prosecutor did not confirm Aishat Guseinova's evidence that in his presence the district policeman Magomed Magomedov in response to her reproaches told her: "I just wanted and beat him... You go and complain wherever you want; they'll do nothing to me."

Also, the court read out the evidence of the witness Akhmed Magomedov, who was also brought to the ROVD on suspicion of stealing some tools not long before the teenager was brought there. The witness said that he saw the boy there, but did not see that he was beaten. The court then examined the material evidence - Makhmud Akhmedov's shirt with traces of blood.

Questions to the defendants, who pled innocent, we asked by the victim's lawyer Aziz Kurbanov.

The district policeman Magomed Magomedov said that he had known the boy for long, but did not know he was a minor. He also said that the boy did not go to school and was notable for very bad behaviour; he called him a thief and a hooligan. The boy's mother entered a verbal skirmish with him, which resulted in the woman's epileptic fit; and the session was adjourned for 15 minutes. Magomed Magomedov said that he brought the teenager to the ROVD, but did not beat him.

The defendant Shamil Magomedov presented documents about his awards and promotions. In his evidence, he claimed that he had not beaten the teenager. He stated that he saw that the boy's hair was cut in certain places, but he saw no bruises on his body.

The defendant Gamzat Nurudinov said that he was not at work on that day, July 18; he came there in the morning on July 19. Nurudinov said that he had not noticed any bruises and abrasions on the victim; he did not beat him and did not see him beaten. In the morning on July 19, he fingerprinted the boy in his office in the presence of Magomed Magomedov, an investigator of the Khunzakh inter-district prosecutor's office, who subsequently investigated the case of beating the boy.

The witness Bagautdin Gamzatov, who spoke at the trial, a former ENT (ear, nose, and throat) specialist of the Shamil District Policlinics, said that the victim suffered from his impaired hearing well before the beating. He also said that the boy's mother, Aishat Guseinova, had more than once addressed him in connection with the need to document the boy's disability. However, he failed to present any documents about the boy's hearing problems before the beating.