E.C.H.R. DOES NOT APPLY PROVISIONAL MEASURES TO ADHERENT OF FORBIDDEN ORGANIZATION OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
Interfax-Religiia, 21 March 2019
The European Court of Human Rights (E.C.H.R.) informed the Russian Ministry of Justice of its refusal to satisfy the request of Sergei Loginov, a member of the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, which is prohibited in the RF, to apply urgent provisional measures in a case, since he allegedly was subjected to tortures on the part of representatives of Russian investigative agencies in the course of a criminal prosecution.
"On the basis of results of a review of evidence submitted by the Russian Ministry of Justice and legal arguments regarding issues raised, the E.C.H.R. did not find any grounds for satisfying the petition of the applicant for enacting provisional measures in accordance with rule 39 of the Regulations of the European Court of Human Rights," the press service of the Ministry of Justice reported.
The report notes that earlier, within the context of an appeal it received, the E.C.H.R. suggested to Russian authorities the conducting of an independent medical examination of the applicant in order to confirm or refute claims he presented.
"In connection with this, the Russian Ministry of Justice and the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service organized, on an expedited basis, and conducted a medical examination of the applicant, with the participation of medical specialists who are independent of the investigative and the penitentiary systems, the results of which established that Loginov's claims about the use of tortures on him were unproven," the Ministry of Justice emphasized.
The 56-year-old S. Loginov was arrested in Surgut in February 2019 on the basis of a case concerning participation in an extremist organization. He appealed to the E.C.H.R. about tortures applied to him during his detention in custody. [. . .] (tr. by PDS, posted 21 March 2019)
MINISTRY OF JUSTICE: EXPERT ANALYSIS DOES NOT CONFIRM TORTURE OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES FROM SURGUT
An independent medical examination of the Jehovah's Witness Sergei Loginov from Surgut did not find traces of the alleged use of torture on him. The examination was arranged by the Ministry of Justice and the Federal Penitentiary Service after Loginov's appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (E.C.H.R.), the website of the Ministry of Justice reported on 21 March.
The E.C.H.R. informed the Russian Ministry of Justice about its refusal to apply provisional measures in Loginov's case concerning the use of torture on him because of the results of the medical examination.
In late February, the E.C.H.R. demanded that Sergei Loginov, an adherent of Jehovah's Witnesses, be sent for an independent medical examination; he reported about tortures in the building of the Investigative Committee. The 57-year-old Loginov was the only one of seven adherents of the religious organization who were under arrest who reported about tortures. According to an order of the E.C.H.R., Russian authorities were supposed to send him for examination in a medical institution that is independent of the Investigative Committee and the penitentiary service, by 20 March.
In late February, seven adherents of Jehovah's Witnesses reported about tortures in the building of the Investigative Committee in Surgut. They said that during interrogation, they refused to incriminate themselves and their fellow believers. After the departure of the lawyer on duty, their hands were bound with scotch tape behind their backs and beaten, they were stripped naked and doused with water, and an electric shock device was used on them. The torture continued for the space of several hours, the victims declared.
Two of them, Artem Kim and Evgeny Kairiak, submitted statements about what happened. Kim appealed to the prosecutor's office and Kairiak, to the police. Kairiak recorded a video in which he described the tortures in detail. He was smothered with a bag and zapped with electric shock at the same time. Fearing for his life, he gave the evidence that was demanded of him.
After this, investigators in Surgut began a preinvestigation inquiry regarding information about tortures of the detained Jehovah's Witnesses. The majority of those detained were charged with arranging the activity of a religious organization that had been ordered banned and liquidated "because of the conduct of extremist activity."
In 2017, the Russian Supreme Court issued a decision finding the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses to be an extremist organization. (tr. by PDS, posted 21 March 2019)
EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS REFUSES TO SATISFY REQUEST OF MEMBER OF ORGANIZATION OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES BANNED IN RUSSIA
Website of the Ministry of Justice, 21 March 2019
The European Court of Human Rights informed the Russian Ministry of Justice about its refusal to grant the request of Sergei Loginov for the application of urgent provisional measures in the case, inasmuch as he allegedly was subjected to tortures on the part of representatives of Russian investigative agencies in the course of a criminal prosecution.
Within the framework of a response to the pertinent appeal, the E.C.H.R. suggested to Russian authorities to conduct an independent medical examination of the applicant with the goal of confirming or refuting the claims he made.
In connection with this, the Russian Ministry of Justice and the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, in expedited manner, organized and conducted a medical examination of the applicant with the participation of medical specialists who are independent of agencies of the investigative and penitentiary systems, the results of which established that Loginov's claims about the use of torture on him are unfounded.
On the basis of the results of the consideration of the evidence and legal arguments on the questions posed, presented by the Russian Ministry of Justice, the E.C.H.R. did not find any grounds for granting the petition of the applicant for the application of provisional measures in accordance with rule 39 of the Regulations of the European Count of Human Rights. (tr. by PDS, posted 21 March 2019)
Background articles:
European
court acts fast on Jehovah's Witnesses' report about torture
February 27, 2019
News
media broadcast doubts about torture of Jehovah's Witnesses
March 19, 2019
Editorial disclaimer: RRN does
not intend to certify the accuracy of information
presented in articles. RRN simply intends to certify the
accuracy of the English translation of the contents of the
articles as they appeared in news media of countries of
the former USSR.
If material is quoted, please give credit to the
publication from which it came. It is not necessary to credit
this Web page. If material is transmitted electronically, please
include reference to the URL,
http://www.stetson.edu/~psteeves/relnews/.