Court recognizes investigators’ inaction in case of Stavropol Territory resident hit by a car

A court concluded that an investigation into the case on a car hitting Sergey Sopnev, a resident of the Predgorny District, who as a result got his leg amputated and became disabled, was conducted ineffectively and led to a violation of the victim’s rights. The court obliged the investigators to eliminate the violations. The Predgorny District Prosecutor’s Office filed an appeal against the court’s decision, but withdrew it later, a lawyer reported.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that in the autumn of 2021, Sergey Sopnev was hit by a car not far from his home. Although a driver involved in the road traffic accident is identified and there are witnesses to the incident, there is still no suspect in the criminal case, and the deadline for bringing the culprit to justice has expired. Natalia Goltseva, a lawyer of Sergey Sopnev, filed a complaint to the court about the ineffectiveness of the investigation. Sergey Sopnev got one of his legs amputated as a result of the road traffic accident. The other leg has been saved, but it still requires permanent medical treatment, the man lost his good job and has to move with a cane or use a wheelchair.

In its resolution, the court has quoted the lawyer’s complaint stating that “the grossest red tape” was allowed in the criminal case, the rights of the victim were “grossly violated both in terms of the reasonableness of the terms of the preliminary investigation, and in the exercise of his rights to timely and full compensation for harm to his health.”

The court recognized that since January 7, 2022, the investigation into the criminal case had been “obviously ineffective,” and the investigator 25 times issued orders to suspend the preliminary investigation.

The court granted the lawyer’s complaint in full and obliged chiefs of the Investigating Department of the Predgorny Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) to eliminate the violations. The court pronounced its resolution on March 20, but the decision of the Predgorny District Court was challenged by the Predgorny District Prosecutor’s Office by an appeal filed to an instance of appeal, reported lawyer Natalia Goltseva.

At the same time, the lawyer complained that the above did not greatly affect the course of the very investigation, as the investigator was replaced, but that was all. “Today, we are already in June, but we have not yet looked through the case materials, and the case has not been sent to court,” the lawyer stated.