Derbent women request investigators to report actions on complaint of torture

During a series of solo pickets, relatives of Derbent residents Islam Barzukaev, Gasan Kurbanov, and Mirzaali Mirzaliev have claimed that the promises voiced by the chief of the Investigating Department for Dagestan of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) to control the consideration of a complaint about torture are not credible. The picketers requested the clarifications with regard to the reasons for ten refusals to prosecute law enforcers.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that female relatives of Derbent residents Islam Barzukaev, Gasan Kurbanov, and Mirzaali Mirzaliev regularly held pickets in Makhachkala in support of them. A mother of Mirzaali Mirzaliev claimed that the policemen were forcing him to incriminate Islam Barzukaev and Gasan Kurbanov. Investigators have already denied relatives ten times to institute a case on torture against the law enforcers.

Today, Elena Barzukaeva, the mother of Islam Barzukaev, Zainab Rabadanova, an aunt of Gasan Kurbanov, and a mother and a grandmother of Mirzaali Mirzaliev have held a series of pickets in Makhachkala. They have been replacing each other and unfolding different posters for an hour.

“We demand that a criminal case be opened against the law enforcers who brutally tortured our children. We have ten investigators’ resolutions [on refusal to institute a criminal case], in which investigators have been simply send formal letters to us within two years,” Elena Barzukaeva explained to the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

After the protest action, the female relatives of the defendants went to the nearby building of the ICRF’s Investigating Department for Dagestan to hand over an appeal addressed to the chief. “We continue to hold pickets because we do not believe their promises. Our children were brutally tortured. They literally have all their organs beaten. We have proven the torture with medical documents and examinations. However, the investigators simply write off nonsense in their resolutions, which is just ridiculous to read,” Elena Barzukaeva said.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 16, 2021 at 05:00 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.