5.  The applicant was born in 1980. He is currently serving a prison sentence in Bezhetsk, Tver Region.
6.  On 10 July 2005 the body of B., a police driver with the Ruza District Police Department of the Moscow region (ОВД Рузского района Московской области), was found with multiple injuries near the village of Baranovo in the Ruza District. The next day the Ruza town prosecutor’s office opened criminal investigation into B.’s murder.
7.  On 11 July 2005 at night the applicant was arrested in P.’s house by three police officers. According to him, he did not resist the arrest, but the police officers kicked and punched him on the legs, in the kidneys and around the groin region at least seven times. After the arrest he was taken to a temporary detention facility (IVS) located on the premises of the Ruza district police department. Then two police officers took him out of the cell and led him to a room. There one of the officers hit the applicant with a rubber truncheon all over his body about twelve times. Then they brought him back to the IVS cell. Soon afterwards another officer entered the cell and punched the applicant in the face and body about five times. During the ill-treatment the officers demanded that the applicant confess to B.’s murder.
8.  At 4.05 a.m. on 11 July 2005 in the IVS, L., an investigator with the Ruza town prosecutor’s office, drew up a record of the applicant’s arrest. Between 3.05 p.m. and 5.20 p.m. the applicant was examined as a suspect in the presence of a State-appointed lawyer, K., in the IVS. The applicant confessed to the crime, stating that he had inflicted several blows to the victim’s body. It was stated in the record of the interview that the applicant had been informed of his right under Article 51 of the Constitution not to incriminate himself.
9.  On the same day the applicant’s family members were notified of his arrest. They retained a lawyer, R., who came to see the applicant on the same day. According to the applicant, the prosecutor of the Ruza district denied R. access to him on the grounds that the latter was being examined as a suspect in the presence of the State-appointed lawyer at that moment.
10.  On the evening of 11 July 2005 the applicant’s mother saw the applicant appearing in a television programme, Vremechko. According to her, he could hardly move and bore evident signs of ill-treatment. At 10.35 p.m. on the same day, R. sent a telegram to the Ruza district prosecutor’s office asking for a meeting with the applicant. He also requested the medical examination of the applicant, who had been allegedly subjected to ill-treatment in the IVS. The next day R. repeated these requests in another telegram sent to the Moscow Region prosecutor’s office.
11.  On 12 July 2005 the applicant was brought before a judge of the Ruza District Court, who ordered that he be placed in pre-trial detention. R., who represented the applicant at the hearing, submitted that the latter had been subjected to ill-treatment by the police officers from the moment of his arrest. The prosecutor responded that the telegrams sent by R. containing these allegations had been received and that there would be an inquiry into them.
12.  According to the applicant, during the hearing on 12 July 2005 he had informed the judge and the prosecutor of his ill-treatment by police officers and had showed them traces of the beatings. However, they had remained unresponsive, not reacting to his allegations. After the hearing the escorting guards had taken the applicant to the first floor of the courthouse and subjected him to ill-treatment. They had punched him in the kidney region, demanding that he confess to the crime. The beatings had continued for about ten minutes, with breaks; afterwards the applicant had been taken to the IVS.
13.  On 13 July 2005, following a meeting with the applicant, R. lodged an application with the Ruza district prosecutor’s office for the applicant’s immediate transfer to a remand centre in Mozhaysk, Moscow Region. He stated that the applicant had been subjected to ill-treatment by the police at the Ruza district police department and that the implicated police officers could interfere with the investigation of this incident. He sent a similar complaint to the Moscow Region prosecutor’s office on the following day, adding that three of B.’s brothers had worked at the Ruza district police department at the time of the applicant’s detention in that facility. According to the applicant, he was transferred to remand centre IZ‑50/4 in Mozhaysk, Moscow Region only on 24 July 2005.
14.  On 12 and 13 July 2005 the applicant complained to the Moscow regional prosecutor of his alleged ill-treatment by police officers during his apprehension, while in police custody and while in the courthouse.
15.  On 14 July 2005 a forensic medical expert from the Ruza Forensic Medical Bureau examined the applicant at the request of an investigator from the prosecutor’s office. The expert recorded the following injuries: (i)  two bruises on the eyelids measuring 3 cm by 2.5 cm and 2.5 cm by 1.5 cm; (ii)  a bruise on the chin measuring 3 cm by 3 cm, with abrasions on its surface 1.5 cm by 1.5 cm in size; (iii)  eleven bruises on the back measuring from 0.3 cm by 0.7 cm to 7 cm by 1.5 cm; (iv) nineteen bruises on the chest and stomach measuring from 1 cm by 1 cm to 2 cm by 13 cm; (v) two abrasions on the left leg (from the knee to the foot) measuring 1 cm and 5 cm long, respectively, and (vi) a 6-cm-long abrasion on the internal side of the left hip. The applicant stated that the injuries had been inflicted during his arrest and while he had been in police custody by police officers who had punched and kicked him and beaten him with a truncheon. The expert concluded that the injuries could have been inflicted on the date and in the circumstances described by the applicant with a hard blunt object of limited surface area. He specified that bruises could have been inflicted with a hard blunt object of an elongated shape, and that the applicant’s injuries were unlikely to have been caused by his falling from his own height.
16.  On 21 July 2005, following a pre-investigation inquiry, a deputy prosecutor of Ruza refused to institute criminal proceedings against two police officers, Sh. and D.K., for lack of the elements of a crime in their actions, and against unidentified police officers for lack of evidence of a crime in their actions. He found, in particular, that the applicant’s injuries could have been the result of the lawful use of force by Sh. and D.K. when apprehending the applicant, who had resisted arrest. They stated that they had used force lawfully during the applicant’s arrest and submitted that they had had to lay him down on the floor, and while handcuffing him, had pressed their knees into his back to keep him still. The decision stated that P., who had been present during the applicant’s arrest, had not confirmed the applicant’s allegations of ill-treatment. The deputy prosecutor also considered that the applicant’s alleged ill-treatment in the IVS by unidentified police officers had not been confirmed. He relied on the statements of officers U., B. and V.P. (who had been on duty in the IVS on 11 July 2005) and denied any malpractice in respect of the applicant.
17.  In August 2005 the Ruza town prosecutor made a submission (представление) to the head of the Ruza district police department, requiring him to conduct an internal inquiry into the applicant’s ill-treatment by unidentified police officers in the IVS and to subject those responsible to disciplinary proceedings.
18.  R. lodged an appeal against the decision of 21 July 2005 with the Ruza District Court. On 16 August 2005 the Ruza town prosecutor annulled the decision of 21 July 2005 and ordered an additional inquiry into the applicant’s allegations of ill‑treatment. In his decision the prosecutor held that the investigator should adduce the results of the ongoing internal inquiry into the alleged unlawfulness of the applicant’s detention in the IVS, verify the applicant’s allegations, and assess them.
19.  By an order of 22 August 2005 the head of the Ruza district police department reprimanded officers U. and B., who had been on duty in the IVS when the applicant had been brought there, for lack of diligence. He found that – in breach of the law on the pre-trial detention of suspected and accused persons – on 11 July 2005 two unidentified police officers had taken the applicant out of the cell and subjected him to ill-treatment.
20.  On 26 June 2006 R. lodged a request with the Ruza town prosecutor to inform him of the results of the additional inquiry. On 30 June 2006 the prosecutor provided him with a copy of a decision issued by an investigator of the Ruza town prosecutor’s office dated 23 August 2005 refusing to open criminal proceedings against the police officers. The investigator of the Ruza town prosecutor’s office, N., maintained the findings made in the decision of 21 July 2005.
21.  In August 2006 R. lodged an appeal against the decision of 23 August 2005 with the Ruza Town Court. He argued that the investigating authority had failed to explain the origin of the applicant’s injuries.
22.  On 9 October 2006 the Ruza District Court decided that the above‑mentioned decision had been unlawful and unsubstantiated and that an additional inquiry was needed. It held that the investigator had failed to address the instructions given by the prosecutor in his decision of 16 August 2005 – in particular, to take all necessary measures to identify the culprits and to hold them criminally responsible.
23.  According to the Government, on 26 October 2006 the investigator of the Ruza Town Prosecutor’s Office issued a new decision refusing to institute criminal proceedings against police officers. However, they failed to produce a copy of this decision. According to the applicant, neither he nor his lawyer was notified about it.
24.  On 28 February 2006 a jury trial against the applicant and his co‑defendant began before the Moscow Regional Court. The applicant pleaded not guilty. At the hearing of 14 March 2006, L., who represented the applicant during the trial, requested that the record of the applicant’s interview as a suspect be declared inadmissible and excluded from the body of evidence. He submitted that the statements made in the course of that interview had been obtained by means of the applicant’s ill-treatment and in the presence of a State-appointed lawyer, who had not acted in the applicant’s best interests. L. also requested to examine the report of 14 July 2005 containing the results of the applicant’s forensic medical examination.
25.  The trial court refused both requests, noting that the allegations of ill-treatment by the police officers were unconfirmed. It relied on the refusal of 23 August 2005 to open a criminal case on account of the alleged ill‑treatment (see paragraph 20 above), which had gone unchallenged at the time. The court also noted that the applicant had not objected to the participation of K., the State-appointed lawyer, in the proceedings and had made no remarks in the interview record to the effect that he had rejected his services. Furthermore, the court considered that the contents of the report by forensic medical expert did not constitute part of the factual circumstances to be determined by the jury. It therefore allowed to be read out before the jury the record of the applicant’s interview as a suspect of 11 July 2005.
26.  On 11 April 2006 the jury found the applicant guilty of battery, the misappropriation of a car, murder, the causing of intentional damage to property, and the acquisition of property obtained in a criminal manner. The Moscow Regional Court sentenced him to eighteen years’ imprisonment.
27.  The applicant lodged an appeal against the judgment with the Russian Supreme Court, complaining, inter alia, that the initial statements that he had given during the investigation had been inadmissible.
28.  On 13 July 2006 the Supreme Court of Russia dismissed the applicant’s appeal and upheld the judgment of the Moscow Regional Court. It stated that the trial court had duly assessed the applicant’s allegations of ill-treatment, noting that the applicant had never denied the use of force by the police to restrain him during his apprehension.
29.  On 12 October 2007, at the applicant’s lawyer’s request, the Ruza prosecutor’s office re-opened the criminal case on account of newly discovered circumstances – namely certain information in the victim’s medical records. However, the proceedings were terminated on 25 October 2007, and (following an appeal by the applicant’s lawyer) by a final decision of 18 February 2008 the Supreme Court upheld that decision.