Court refuses to increase compensation for torture to native of Chechnya

The Yaroslavl Regional Court has left unchanged the amount of compensation for the moral harm suffered by Khasdin Murtazaliev, a native of Chechnya, who was tortured in a colony. Murtazaliev claimed 500,000 roubles, but the court approved the amount almost eight times smaller.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that for several years already human rights defenders have been making public the facts of torture in one of the colonies of the Yaroslavl Region, where cruel beatings of prisoners were practiced. The human rights "Public Verdict" Fund* has received and posted a number of videos made by the colony's staff during torturing convicts, including Khasdin Murtazaliev. In January 2020, for beating him, two employees of the colony received conditional prison terms. In November 2021, a Yaroslavl court awarded him 65,000 roubles ($843) of compensation after considering his lawsuit.

Disagreeing with the humiliating compensation for torture, Khasdin Murtazaliev and Irina Biryukova, a lawyer of the "Public Verdict"* who represents his interests, tried to appeal against the judgement and achieve a fair compensation at the Yaroslavl Regional Court. But the latter has upheld the ruling of the lower instance, says the message posted on the "Yaroslavl Case" website, run by the "Public Verdict" Fund*.

The consideration of the defence's complaint against the ruling of the Zavolzhsky District Court of Yaroslavl on compensation to Murtazaliev was held on January 31. The Yaroslavl Regional Court upheld the ruling of the first-instance court and left the compensation amount unchanged; it follows from the court's website.

It should be noted here that Khasdin Murtazaliev initially claimed 500,000 roubles of compensation for his suffered moral harm.

*The organization has been put by the Russian Ministry of Justice on the register of NCOs performing the functions of a foreign agent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 2, 2022 at 01:40 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.