22:43, 12 September 2022

Lawyers of Knyazev and Levdik appeal against verdict to law enforcers in case on torture

The defendants at a session of the Nalchik City Court, November 2020. Photo courtesy of Alexander Knyazhev

Advocate Vitaly Zubenko filed an appeal to the Supreme Court (SC) of Kabardino-Balkaria against the verdict of the Nalchik City Court in a case on the use of violence against Nalchik residents Alexander Knyazev and Valery Levdik. The advocate called the punishment imposed on the law enforcers to be too lenient.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on August 30, the Nalchik City Court pronounced a verdict to three Nalchik policemen in the case on torture of Alexander Knyazev and Valery Levdik, punishing the policemen to three years of conditional sentence.

According to the prosecution, on October 28, 2016, three policemen took Knyazev and Levdik to the Nalchik department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR). The policemen "put bags on the heads of Knyazev and Levdik, roped their hands and took away their phones." Knyazev and Levdik were kept in the MIA building for almost 24 hours. One of the figurants hit Knyazev several times in the area of his ribs and thigh, and beat him up on the temple. The policeman "laid Levdik on the floor face down and struck him at the area of his kidneys for at least six times." On the basis of the knocked-out confessions, a criminal case was opened against the men; each of them was sentenced to a conditional imprisonment.

The conclusions of the court, set out in the verdict, do not correspond to the actual circumstances of the case, established by the first instance court, and therefore, the verdict is illegal and unfair. This has been stated by the appeal, filed against the verdict to the policemen by Vitaliy Zubenko, a lawyer of the “Zone of Rights” human rights organization.

“Despite the collected and examined evidence, the court came to the wrong conclusion that the injuries to the victims were caused by the legal actions of the defendants. In fact, the defendants were acquitted for using violence against the detainees,” the appeal states.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 12, 2022 at 05:30 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Lyudmila Maratova

Source: CK correspondent