09 JAN 2024
Forced infusion of vodka, "roundabout" arrests and 14 years on a terrorist article. The case of Islombek Kamalov
09 JAN 2024
Islombek Kamalov at a court hearing
Оглавление
A lawyer of the Memorial Center filed a complaint describing the case of Islombek Kamalov with the UN Committee against Torture. In 2018, he was kidnapped by FSB officers at a Moscow airport, beaten and forcibly injected with a bottle of vodka. Then Kamalov was arrested several times on fabricated administrative cases, and in 2020 he was sentenced to 14 years in prison for financing and participation in a terrorist organization. In the material we tell the story of Kamalov.
Abduction at the airport
On December 12, 2018, Russian citizen Islombek Kamalov flew into Moscow's Vnukovo airport from Turkey. Airport border guards sent Kamalov for a second document check and then detained him for 24 hours. Border guards questioned him about his trip to Turkey, searched his luggage and demanded his phone password. For twenty-four hours he was not given food and water, nor was he allowed to contact relatives or lawyers. Islombek's mother, Nargis Kamalova, met her son at the airport and waited for him there for more than 38 hours, but her son was unable to inform her about the detention, and the airport staff did not tell her anything either.
A day later, on December 13, three men in civilian clothes took Kamalov out of the airport through the service exit and put him in the back seat of a car. After that, according to Kamalov, one of the men gave Islombek vodka and demanded that he drink it. Kamalov refused, saying that he practiced Islam and did not drink alcohol. Then the men grabbed him by his legs, arms and hair and began forcibly shoving the vodka bottle into his mouth and beating him so that he drank without resisting. Kamalov was able to spit out all of the vodka without the men noticing. He was then taken to the line department of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) at Vnukovo Airport.
At about 21:00, the Interior Ministry officers conducted a medical examination of Kamalov, which showed that he was sober. Then the same, as Kamalov said, unknown men took him out and drove him to the forest, where another man joined them. They put Kamalov in the back seat of the car, tied his hands and began to put a bottle of vodka in his mouth again.
Then one of the men left for half an hour and returned with handcuffs. The men restrained Kamalov's hands and began to hit him on the stomach, as well as to pinch his nose and pour vodka into his mouth. After the torture, Kamalov was intoxicated and fell asleep. While he slept, the kidnappers took him to the police department of the Prospekt Vernadskogo district of Moscow.
Kamalov would later tell his lawyers and in his written testimony that the kidnappers introduced themselves as FSB officers. Their affiliation with the agency was also confirmed during the visits of FSB officers to Islombek in the special reception center. Also during the beatings Kamalov heard the name of one of the men – FSB captain Maxim Pateyuk. Pateyuk did not deny that on December 12, 2018, he was at Vnukovo airport and interrogated Kamalov, but denied committing any illegal actions against Kamalov.
Administrative arrests
On December 14, 2018, at 6:30 a.m., officers of the police department of the Prospekt Vernadskogo district conducted a medical examination. It established that Kamalov was drunk.
After that, police officers drew up a report that Kamalov was detained on the night of December 13-14 at 52 Prospekt Vernadskogo for allegedly shouting, swearing, showing aggression, violating public order and refusing to obey the lawful order of a police officer. Kamalov was also questioned about the purpose of the trip to Turkey and about his links to banned terrorist organizations.
On the same day, December 14, the Nikulinsky District Court of Moscow found Islombek Kamalov guilty of "disobedience to the lawful order of a police officer" (Article 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses) and arrested him for three days.
On December 17, Kamalov was taken out of the special detention center. On the way out he was immediately detained by three men in civilian clothes. One of them was present at the first detention – he was the one who hit Kamalov in the stomach while he was being made drunk with vodka. Kamalov was again forced into a car, taken to the Ostankino district police department, and again questioned about the trip to Turkey. They made another report on him about an offense he had not committed - this time about foul language in a public place. On the same day, the Ostankinsky District Court of Moscow found Islombek guilty of petty hooliganism (Article 20.1 of the Administrative Code) and ordered his arrest for 10 days.
The second detention was seen by Nargis Kamalova, who came to meet her son after his arrest, and two of his lawyers - Timur Idalov and Alexander Zubarev. Kamalov's mother recognised the two men and told the lawyers that she had seen them earlier on the video recordings of her son undergoing a medical examination and leaving Vnukovo airport with unknown men - they turned out to be the unknown men. These videos were shown to Nargis Kamalova by the staff of the line department of Internal Affairs at Vnukovo Airport, where she went on December 13 in search of her son, as proof that he had long ago left the airport and the police did not know where he was. Kamalova asked the employees of the local police department who the people with whom her son left the airport were, but the police officers did not give an answer.
During the second arrest Kamalov was visited twice by FSB (Federal Security Agency) officers. They persuaded Kamalov to sign an empty form promising to return his phone for the signature.
On December 27, Kamalov was released from the special detention center but was waited for at the building again. Three men looking like civilians drove up to the special reception, went inside unhindered and took Kamalov by the arms to kidnap him again. This kidnapping was again observed by Nargis Kamalova, as well as lawyers Peter Kuryanov and Timur Idalov. This time they shot a video of the kidnapping on Kuryanov’s smartphone. They tried to stop the kidnappers and also asked them questions about the reasons for the so-called “arrest”. The kidnappers did not show identification but said they were police officers.
Video of Kamalov’s kidnapping on December 27
Lawyer Kuryanov also said that the staff of the special detention center helped the kidnappers, pushing him, Idalov and Kamalova away from the kidnappers. The acting head of the special detention center Tomozov also confirmed that Kamalov’s kidnappers were police officers, with whom Kamalov was “in development” on suspicion of committing a terrorist crime. In addition, Islombek Kamalov told the lawyers that he had seen the official ID of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of one of the kidnappers and also found out his name — Nikolai Kabitsky.
Islombek Kamalov was again pushed into a car and taken away, this time to the police department in the Khamovniki district. Kamalov was again reported for swearing in a public place (Article 20.1 of the Administrative Code), and on the same day the Khamovnichesky District Court of Moscow arrested Kamalov for another 15 days.
Lawyers have lodged appeals against each of the court’s arrest orders. In the complaint against the first arrest the lawyers reflected Kamalov’s kidnapping from the airport by unknown persons and subsequent alcohol intoxication, however, the Court of Appeal ignored these reports as being “unfounded” and not confirmed by anything. The courts did not satisfy complaints about all three arrests.
On June 19, 2019, lawyers of the Memorial Human Rights Center complained about the “carousel” administrative arrests in the ECHR.
Criminal case
On January 11, 2019, Kamalov served his third arrest. On the same day, the Office of the FSB of Russia in Moscow and the Moscow region opened a criminal case against him on suspicion of participating in the activities of the international terrorist organization “Islamic State” (art. 205.5 part 2 of the Criminal Code). Later, another charge was added — assistance to terrorist activities through financing (Article 205.1, Part 1.1 of the Criminal Code).
Three “arrest” rulings on fabricated administrative cases in December 2018 were also included in the indictment against Kamalov as “evidence confirming the accusation”. During the investigation of the criminal case, Kamalov told the FSB investigator who initiated the case, S.R. Salikhov, about the kidnapping and torture but he did nothing with this information.
On February 10, 2020, the Second Western District Military Court found Kamalov guilty and sentenced him to 14 years of imprisonment in a high-security penal colony.
On October 8, 2020, the Court of Appeal upheld the judgment. On September 9, 2021, the Court of Cassation also “overruled” the judgment.
The courts ignored Kamalov’s statements that all the evidence in the case was fabricated. Today Islombek Kamalov is in the colony.
On April 7, 2021, Kamalov’s lawyer Sergey Andropov filed a complaint with the ECHR where he described in detail the violations committed by the courts during the hearings of the criminal case. Currently, the ECHR has consolidated the complaints filed by Memorial’s lawyers and Andropov into a single case. The decision has not been made yet.
Statements to the authorities and interrogations of kidnappers
In December 2018, Nargis Kamalova together with lawyers Kuryanov and Idalov appealed to law enforcement agencies with a statement that unknown law enforcement officers kidnapped Islombek and used physical violence and psychological pressure on him, as well as drugged him with alcohol.
Subsequently, Kamalova, the lawyers and human rights defenders also filed statements about the fabrication of administrative cases against Kamalov, the second and the third kidnapping, illegal placement and detention in special detention centers.
Investigators spent almost two years working on the case, passing the material from one agency to another, while different law enforcement officials gave different testimonies. Some claimed that Kamalov had not been detained at all and had not been taken to the detention center of the Ministry of Interior of Russia at Vnukovo airport, while others claimed that such a citizen had been detained, but for only exactly one day.
Moreover, the facts of the third abduction involving Nikolai Kabitsky and other policemen were highlighted in a separate proceeding during the review, but were not considered in the investigation of the torture case.
On July 31 and September 18, 2020, Kamalov said in written testimony that one of the men who beat him was Maxim Pateyuk, an officer of the FSB (Russian Federal Security Service), and that during the abduction he learned from the conversations of the men in civilian clothes that they were FSB officers.
On November 17, 2020, Major Pereverzev, an investigator of the military investigative department, interrogated Maxim Pateyuk. The latter said that since November 2018, the FSB "conducted operational and investigative activities aimed at establishing the involvement of the citizen Kamalov I.D. in a crime...". Pateyuk also said that on December 12, 2018, the department's duty officer received a report about Kamalov's arrival in Russia, after which the management ordered him and another employee, Captain Vasily Kudryavtsev, to go to Vnukovo airport to get explanations.
According to Pateyuk, he tried to interrogate Kamalov at the airport, but Kamalov refused to testify. The FSB officers then allegedly left the airport, leaving Kamalov in the passport control area. Pateyuk claimed that he and Kudryavtsev did not commit any illegal acts against Islombek Kamalov. Investigator Pereverzev also interviewed Captain Kudryavtsev — his testimony repeats Pateyuk's word for word.
After the interrogations, on November 24, 2020, investigator Pereverzev decided to refuse to initiate criminal proceedings against Captains Pateyuk and Kudryavtsev "due to the lack of corpus delicti". The decision was based on the testimony of both captains, which was reproduced almost verbatim. On December 15, 2020, the military prosecutor's office confirmed that there were no grounds to cancel the investigator's decision.
Neither Kamalov nor his mother were informed about the end of the verification measures in November-December 2020. He learned of the end of the inspection only in September 2021, when he was connected via videoconference to one of the court hearings in the criminal case.
Refusal of subsequent courts
On September 23, 2021, lawyer Novikov filed a complaint with the Moscow Garrison Military Court to declare the refusal to initiate criminal proceedings for torture illegal. On October 4, 2021, the court decided to transfer the lawyer's complaint to the 235th Garrison Military Court.
On November 18, 2021, one day before the court's decision, the deputy head of the investigative department, where the case of Kamalov's torture was examined, canceled the investigator's decision of November 24, 2020, refusing to initiate criminal proceedings, which was appealed by the lawyer. As a result, on November 19, 2021, the judge of the 235th Garrison Military Court dismissed the case on the complaint of Novikov's lawyer. A few days later, on November 22, 2021, the chief investigator Prejentsev again issued a decision refusing to initiate criminal proceedings.
The lawyer appealed against the new decision. In his appeal, he pointed out that the investigators did not carry out all the necessary verification measures: they did not obtain statements from officials of the service unit of the local department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs at Vnukovo airport, they did not establish the fact that Kamalov had been taken for medical examination, they did not obtain statements from employees of the border control and customs post, etc.
On November 29, 2022, a judge of the 235th Garrison Military Court dismissed the complaint because "it is not his right to predetermine the actions of an official" and the investigator himself is authorized to decide what verification measures he should carry out.
On November 30, 2022, the lawyer appealed the court's decision to a higher court, the Second Western District Military Court. The lawyer cited the rulings of Russian courts, from the practice of which it follows that courts have the right to consider complaints about the ineffectiveness of a pre-investigative inspection.
On February 3, 2023, the Second Western Military District Court issued a ruling dismissing the complaint.
On April 28, 2023, the lawyer filed a complaint with The Military Court of Cassation, but on June 19, 2023, the judge of the Military Court of Cassation refused to refer the complaint for consideration in a court hearing, finding no violations.
According to the legislation, after a refusal to refer a complaint for consideration by the Military Court of Cassation, further appeals to a higher court are not possible.
Complaint to the UN
Tamilla Imanova, a lawyer at the Memorial Human Rights Centre, filed a complaint with the UN Committee against Torture. In her complaint Imanova described the torture experienced by Kamalov on December 13, 2018, by unknown law enforcement officers in civilian clothes, and the subsequent refusals of Russian investigative authorities and courts to conduct an effective investigation into the beating of Kamalov.
In her complaint Imanova pointed out that the Russian authorities had violated several articles of the Convention against Torture.
- Article 2 regarding the adoption of effective measures to prevent acts of torture.
Kamalov was subjected to torture by FSB officers for the purpose of pressure, intimidation, initial arrest, and fabrication of evidence for a criminal case.
The act of torture amounted not only to beating but also to forced administration of alcohol as alcohol consumption is incompatible with Kamalov’s Muslim beliefs.
- Article 4 regarding punishment for torture in accordance with criminal legislation, Article 12 regarding prompt and impartial investigation of torture, Article 13 regarding the right to lodge a complaint about torture with the authorities and to prompt and impartial administration of such a complaint
The authorities have not conducted an effective investigation into the allegations of torture. Despite requests to the investigation authorities and judicial appeals, the authorities have not initiated a criminal case.
The pre-investigation check, which ended with an unjustified refusal to initiate a criminal case, cannot be considered an investigation. Moreover, state agents had two opportunities to conduct an investigation: not only did the applicant's mother file a petition about the violence against her son to the authorities, but Kamalov himself informed FSB investigator Salikhov, who was handling his criminal case, and nothing was done with the petition he received.
- Article 14 regarding fair compensation for victims of torture
The authorities have not conducted an effective investigation, thus depriving Kamalov of the opportunity to file a civil suit and seek compensation.
Tamilla Imanova
lawyer at the Memorial Human Rights Centre
«This case came to the attention of the human rights community by accident: Islombek Kamalov served his second administrative detention (out of three) in a cell with human rights defender Lev Ponomaryov.
Ponomaryov found out about everything that had happened to Kamalov, helped him to find a lawyer and also helped him to convey his appeal to A.V. Babushkin, who was a member of the Public Council at the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the city of Moscow and a member of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights in 2018. As part of the inspection Andrey Babushkin was able to visit Kamalov in a special detention center and also document the facts of Kamalov’s case.
It scares me to think how many more people who accidentally fell into the clutches of the Russian special services also ended up behind bars for long periods of time without being able to seek help from lawyers or human rights defenders.»
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