Court's ruling on torture in Kuban outrages human rights defenders

Torture is a grave crime; and the court ruling to sentence a law enforcer from the Krasnodar Territory (also known as Kuban by the name of the main river) to a fine of 50,000 roubles for beating up Andrei Popov is excessively lenient, human rights defenders have noted.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Evgeny Volkov, a deputy chief of the Primorsko-Akhtarsky ROVD (District Interior Division) of the Krasnodar Territory, was accused of involvement in the beating of Andrei Popov after the letter's detention. The prosecutor demanded three years in colony for Volkov, but after he had admitted his guilt and apologized, the prosecutor asked to fine him.

The "Team against Torture" (TaT)* did not expect such a lenient Volkov's punishment for torturing of Andrei Popov, detained on suspicion of committing a theft. Besides, Volkov's apology was not made in Popov's presence. The latter himself was found guilty within the theft case.

A human rights defender with the "Memorial" Centre for Human Rights Defence** treats this court ruling as a failure. "If after apologizing for such a serious crime one can get away with a fine, this means that torture is equivalent to verbal abuse," he has stated, adding that every year there are fewer and fewer court rulings that deprive law enforcers who torture people of freedom.

*The "Team against Torture" (TaT, formerly the "Committee against Torture" – CaT) was created by the lawyers who had earlier worked for the CaT, which was included into the register of the NCOs performing the functions of foreign agents.

**As reported on the website of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the reason for including on March 1, 2024, the unregistered "Memorial" Centre for Human Rights Defence (CHRD) into the roster of foreign agents was the spread of "inaccurate information aimed at creating a negative image of the Russian Federation, as well as the Russian Armed Forces."