They beat him briefly and then allowed him to wash up: the court explained why it gave a “lenient” sentence to the Kuban police officers who beat the detainee
In the summer of 2023, 41-year-old Fedor Valko worked as a watchman at a factory in the village PrikubanskyThe police became interested in his identity when a conveyor belt disappeared from the site. Valko was taken to the police station, where they began to beat, including with a metal chair. Afterward, doctors recorded numerous abrasions, bruises, a hemorrhage in the eye, a traumatic brain injury, and a closed fracture of three spinal processes.
The watchman's complaint reached the court. The prosecutor requested that the district police officer be recognized. Evgeniya Samonova and the detective Ivan Tatsenko guilty of torture and sentence each of them to seven years in prison. However, the court qualified the police officers' actions under a more lenient charge—abuse of power. Ultimately, Samonov got four years in prison, and Tatsenko - three and a half.
Fedor Valko received legal support from lawyers from the Anti-Torture Team. According to them, the court didn't see The police officers' actions demonstrated "a desire to inflict particular physical and mental suffering on the victim." The court also found that they did not mock or behave "inhumanely": on the contrary, they only beat him briefly and even allowed him to wash after removing the handcuffs.
As the head of the Team Against Torture told NeMoskva Sergey BabinetsThe so-called "torture article" was introduced three years ago, and during this time, less than ten guilty verdicts have been handed down under it.
- This is ridiculous, - Babinets believes. — Until it's applied, no one will learn to use it. The Investigative Committee doesn't know how to apply it, the prosecutor's office doesn't know how to oversee it, and law enforcement practices haven't been established. However, punishing torture specifically is important to clarify the state's position. After all, torture isn't decreasing, and police officers are completely unafraid to commit illegal acts against detainees, knowing there will likely be no consequences.
Sergei Babinets is confident that crimes committed in the name of the state should be punished more harshly than ordinary, everyday crimes.
— Because in this case, not only the rights of a specific citizen are violated, but the authority of the entire state is undermined, through whose hands the police are committing a crime, — he thinks. — Accountability must be irreversible. Unfortunately, we don't see this happening. And experience shows that the state doesn't really need it.
