Prosecution of Inal Berov stopped in KBR

As reported today by the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", the prosecution of Inal Berov, a resident of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), who was suspected of robbery, was stopped on February 28.

On March 6, 2012, in Nalchik, armed power agents broke into the garage, where the Berov family were repairing cars, and took Inal Berov away. He was taken to the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of the KBR, where, according to his father, he was beaten and forced to confess of the crime he never committed. On April 20, 2012, Berov was detained on suspicion of assault related to robbery. A certain M. Sokhov, who was then kept at the SIZO (pre-trial prison) of Nalchik had evidenced against him. Later, as human rights defenders reported, Sokhov confessed that he had slandered Berov.

Inal Berov and his father wrote a complaint to the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) and turned to human rights organizations. On April 10, 2012, a criminal case was initiated on abuse of power with application of violence, in which Inal Berov was granted the victim status. Within five months, four investigators replaced each other in the case, which indicates, according to relatives, a deliberate protraction of the investigation.

The criminal investigation against the policemen who are accused of torturing Berov is still underway.