New investigation started into case on torture of Nalchik resident

The investigation into the case on beating of Rustam Kuchmenov, a detained resident of Nalchik, was resumed, and it was handed over to officials from the Investigating Department for Kabardino-Balkaria of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), the Committee Against Torture (CaT) reported on August 21.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in December 2017, Rustam Kuchmenov, a resident of Nalchik, addressed the human rights defenders with a complaint about torture after his detention. He identified five law enforcers, but none of them was removed from office. In January 2019, in Nalchik, the investigation into the Rustam Kuchmenov's case was suspended, while investigators explained their decision by the fact that a suspected law enforcer could not participate in the criminal case.

Representatives of Rustam Kuchmenov got a notification from ICRF's Department for Kabardino-Balkaria that the investigation into the criminal case against the head of the law enforcement body suspected of torturing the resident of Nalchik was handed over to the Department for investigating especially important cases of the ICRF's Department for Kabardino-Balkaria, the CaT reported on its website on August 21. The investigator, who first suspended and then closed the criminal case, has been suspended from the investigation, the CaT reports.

"We hope that the investigation into the case will be much more active and successful," noted Magomed Alamov, a lawyer of the Committee Against Torture, as quoted by the CaT's website.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 22, 2019 at 08:01 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.