17:56, 1 November 2017

Moskalkova asks to boost investigation of tortures in Chechnya

Igor Kochetkov, Maxim Lapunov, Yelena Milashina. Photo: RFE/RL

The investigators' refusal to open a case on Maxim Lapunov's complaints about his torture in Chechnya has been cancelled, Tatiana Moskalkova, the Russian Ombudsperson, has stated. She called for more active search for the witnesses, whom Lapunov had named.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Maxim Lapunov, a native of the Omsk Region, has so far been the only person, who publicly told about his detention and torture in Chechnya because of his homosexual orientation.

According to Lapunov, people in civilian clothes detained him in a street of Grozny back in March. "The main accusation against me was in the fact that I'm a gay," he said.

His statement has all the grounds for opening a criminal case about his torture in Chechnya, Tatiana Moskalkova believes.

She has added that investigators had refused to open a criminal case on Lapunov's application, but this decision was cancelled.

"The issue now is to find the witnesses, mentioned by Lapunov, who, as I think, have not yet been found because of investigators' inactivity," Ms Moskalkova has added.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.