ECHR awards 20,000 euros to resident of Nizhny Novgorod region beaten by police in 2009
NIZHNY NOVGOROD. Dec 20 (Interfax) - The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday made a decision on the claim filed by Alexander Rakhmanov, a resident of the city of Kstovo, Nizhny Novgorod region, the human rights organization Committee Against Torture said.
According to the human rights activists, the police came to search the residence of Rakhmanov, who had a second-group disability, on May 14, 2009. The man asked what was going on and "one of the people, who wore a mask, hit him in the face." "That strike made Rakhmanov fall down. Other masked men came up to him and started kicking him in the chest and stomach. After that, he was handcuffed," the report said.
After the search, the man was treated in the Kstovo hospital for about three weeks. The man filed a complaint with the law enforcement agencies, but three decisions not to open a criminal case were made in the course of the probes.
Human rights activists then filed a lawsuit seeking moral damages on Rakhmanov's behalf. The Nizhny Novgorod Nizhegorodsky District Court awarded him 10,000 rubles in July 2015. A claim was also filed with the ECHR.
"Today the European Court has made a decision according to which Russia has admitted its guilt of violations of Alexander Rakhmanov's right to freedom from torture and his right to effective legal protection. Russia concluded an amicable agreement with Rakhmanov's relatives, in accordance with which it will pay them 20,000 euro in moral damages," the report said.
Rakhmanov died in 2016, the human rights activists said.