Rights defenders achieve inquiry into torture of Krasnodar resident

The decision of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) to close the criminal case on the kidnapping and torture of Aram Gambaryan, a resident of Krasnodar, was cancelled by the Prosecutor's Office. The case has been returned for additional investigation.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported referring Gambaryan that on March 21, 2017, people who introduced themselves as law enforcers, forced him to a forest, where they beat and threatened to kill him, demanding to testify about the attempted murder of a local businessman. Doctors diagnosed Gambaryan with a brain concussion.

On April 10, 2018, human rights defenders managed to achieve the opening of a criminal case on the fact of abuse of office by law enforcers in relation to Aram Gambaryan. However, five months later, on September 10, the case was stopped.

"We are satisfied that the illegal investigator's decision to close the case has been cancelled ... but we intend to seek the transfer of the case to the central office of the ICRF, because we believe that it is unlikely to be investigated properly at the local level," said Roman Veretennikov, a lawyer of the "Committee against Torture" (CaT).