20:36, 15 May 2019

ECtHR demands from Russia explanations on complaint of Sochi schoolboy about torture

The European Court of Human Rights. Photo: REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has demanded from Russian authorities to answer on how efficiently the torture complaint of Georgy Sveshnikov, a Sochi schoolboy had been investigated. This was reported by the head of the Krasnodar branch of the Committee against Torture (CaT).

In the opinion of rights defenders, an article of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) that prohibits torture and guarantees an efficient inquiry was violated in relation to the young man.

In May 2017, Sveshnikov said that law enforcers had taken him from classes and beat him up, forcing confession to a theft from the store. After that, he was hospitalized with injuries and bruises. Sveshnikov claims that he had committed no crime. Investigators refused to initiate a torture case; and it was decided not to initiate a case on a false denunciation against Sveshnikov himself.

Rights defenders were surprised that the complaint "was communicated within a very short time."

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 15, 2019 at 01:54 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Svetlana Kravchenko

Source: CK correspondent