Sochi woman demands to investigate her son's death after detention by law enforcers

The body of Semyon Ganshin was found in the Zavokzalny District of Sochi. The day before, according to his mother, Irina Ganshina, the son was detained by law enforcers, who then stated that there had been no detention.

The "Committee against Torture" (CaT)* has turned to the Sochi Prosecutor's Office with a complaint about the refusal to initiate a criminal case on the death of the 38-year-old Sochi resident Semyon Ganshin. Sergey Romanov, a CaT representative, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about this.

Semyon's mother, Irina Ganshina, turned to the CaT* stating that she had failed to force law enforcers to investigate the death of her son.

She saw her son alive for the last time on July 27, 2021. On that day, they left the house; and on August 1, his body was found in the Zavokzalny District. Also, according to Ms Ganshina, she became aware that shortly before her son's death, he was detained by law enforcers.

According to her story, on July 30, 2021, she turned to law enforcers, who informed her that Semyon had been detained for an administrative offense, and a trial was scheduled for July 31. However, as it turned out, there was no court session on July 31. Then, Irina Ganshina again turned to law enforcers, who that time said that Semyon had not been detained at all. On August 1, Semyon's body was found in the Zavokzalny District. At the morgue, Irina was not allowed to look at the bodyl; law enforcers explained that it had begun rotting.

"The Investigating Division of the Tsentralny District would not initiate a criminal case "due to the absence of a crime event." At the same time, the investigator failed to check the information that Semyon had been [kept by law enforcers]. We appealed against the refusal decision. Now, we are waiting for the results of the consideration of our complaint," Roman Veretennikov, a CaT lawyer, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

* The “Committee Against Torture” (CaT) was included by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) of Russia in the register of NCOs-foreign agents in 2015. In this regard, leaders liquidated the organization and created a new legal entity: the “Committee for the Prevention of Torture”, which was also included in the list of foreign agents, and the organization was closed. At present, the “Committee Against Torture” operates as an unregistered public association.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 14, 2022 at 04:45 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.