00:54, 13 August 2025

The Stavropol prosecutor's office acknowledged red tape in the case of Eldar Kulbyakov

For over a year, investigators have refused to open a criminal case on the torture of Stavropol resident Eldar Kulbyakov, although the injuries on his body have been confirmed by three examinations.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" wrote, in August 2024, the Investigative Committee of Russia for Stavropol Krai refused to open a case on the statement of Alexander Mustafayev that security forces beat and used electric shock on his son Eldar Kulbyakov.

On May 31, 2024, a search was conducted in the home of Alexander Mustafayev's family in the village of Suvorovskaya, at the same time his son Eldar Kulbyakov was detained in a hotel. At night, when Kulbyakov was brought to Stavropol, the lawyer recorded on video traces of violence on his body. Kulbyakov said that after lunch on May 31, he was taken from the police station in Pyatigorsk to an unknown location, where he was tortured, including with electricity. As a result, he agreed to sign a confession and admitted to stealing a cooler from a non-existent cafe in the village of Yessentukskaya. After that, he was taken to Stavropol, where he is still in pretrial detention on another charge. On July 5, 2024, Kulbyakov's father, Alexander Mustafayev, wrote a statement to the Investigative Committee about the use of violence against his son by law enforcement officers.

The investigative bodies have already issued a decision eight times to refuse to open a case on the torture of Eldar Kulbyakov, although in July of this year the Stavropol Krai prosecutor's office ordered the investigator to eliminate violations in the examination of the material, the "Team Against Torture*" reported on August 12.

According to human rights activists, the Investigative Committee has refused to open a case on the torture of Kulbyakov for over a year, during which time "a fourth investigator has been replaced in the case", and the prosecutor's office has repeatedly admitted that the Investigative Committee is allowing red tape. At the same time, Kulbyakov himself remains under arrest on charges of theft.

The materials on the Kulbyakov case contain three expert examinations confirming his statements about torture. Doctors recorded injuries from handcuffs on his wrists, and marks from electric current on his hands, buttocks and back.

Experts concluded that these marks correspond to the description of torture that Eldar provided, according to a publication on the human rights activists' Telegram channel.

We've updated the apps on Android and IOS — now they work without VPN! We would appreciate criticism, ideas for development both in Google Play/App Store and on KU pages in social networks. Without installing a VPN, you can read us in Telegram (in Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia - with VPN) or use the browser Ceno to bypass blocking. Using a VPN, you can continue reading "Caucasian Knot" on the website as usual, and on social networks: Facebook**, Instagram**, "VKontakte", "Odnoklassniki" and X. You can watch the "Caucasian Knot" video on YouTube. Send messages to WhatsApp** to +49 157 72317856, to Telegram – to the same number or write to @Caucasian_Knot.

* are included in the register of foreign agents by the Russian Ministry of Justice.

** the activities of the Meta company (which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) are prohibited in Russia.

Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/413769