Shatin: Merekha's defence not to appeal against the verdict

The defence of the victim at the trial on using torture to Vyacheslav Merekha in the Stavropol Territory is satisfied with the verdict and has no intention to appeal against it, said Ilya Shatin, and employee of the Fund "Public Verdict", who represented the interests of the victim.

Today, the Predgorny District Court of the Stavropol Territory has sentenced four former district militiamen to prison terms ranging from three to six years.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Vyacheslav Merekha, a resident of the hamlet of Kalaborka, was detained by employees of the Predgorny ROVD (District Interior Division) at night of December 15, 2010, and exposed to moral and physical abuse. The victim survived, underwent three surgeries and became disabled.

Ex-law enforcers Sergey Petrov, Nikolai Kryazhov, Vadim Akhmedov and Alexei Golovachov were arrested in the courtroom after the verdict was announced by Judge Nina Turlaeva. After imprisonment, all of them will be deprived of the right to hold office in state bodies and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) for two years.

"Once we have the judgement on hand, we intend to file a lawsuit demanding to recover the moral harm and material damage suffered by Vyacheslav Merekha. The respondent in the suit will be the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, since law enforcement bodies are state entities," said Ilya Shatin.