4.  The applicant was born in 1979 and lives in Ulyanovsk.
5.  At around 8.10 p.m. on 16 June 2007 the applicant and K. were arrested on suspicion of robbery. They were taken to the criminal investigation unit of the Kotlovka district police department for the South‑West Administrative Circuit of Moscow (ОУР ОВД по району Котловка ЮЗАО г. Москвы).
6.  The applicant’s account of subsequent events at the police station is the following. During the night of 16 June 2007 the applicant was insulted and beaten up by police officers A.A. and M., who requested that he confess to the robbery. He lost consciousness several times. The applicant continued to be physically assaulted in the presence of investigator A.I. from the South‑West Administrative Circuit police, who threatened him with imprisonment. The applicant refused to sign any confession statements. The police officers coerced K. to confess to the robbery, physically assaulting him and making him see the applicant’s beatings. The applicant was threatened with physical retaliation if he complained about their conduct.
7.  At 7.20 a.m. on 17 June 2007 investigator A.I. drew up a record of the applicant’s arrest for robbery, which was signed by the applicant in the absence of a lawyer. The record indicates that the applicant was arrested at 7.20 a.m. that day.
8.  At 11.05 a.m. the applicant was placed in a South‑West Administrative Circuit temporary detention facility (IVS).
9.  On 18 June 2007 the Gagarinskiy District Court of Moscow remanded the applicant in custody.
10.  On 21 June 2007 the applicant was placed in a Moscow pre‑trial detention facility (IZ-77/2).
11.  On 17 June 2007 the applicant was examined by a doctor of Moscow Town Hospital no. 33 at the request of the on-duty officer of the Kotlovka district police station. According to the hospital records, the applicant had (i) bluish bruises on his face, chest, back and both legs measuring between 6 x 6 cm and 3 x 6 cm; and (ii) an abrasion on his back measuring 1.5 x 6 cm. He was diagnosed with multiple contusions and abrasions on his head, chest and upper limbs.
12.  According to records from the IVS and IZ-77/2, of 17 and 21 June 2007, respectively, the applicant had multiple contusions and abrasions on his head, chest and upper limbs.
13.  On 13 August 2007 the applicant lodged a complaint with the internal security department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow, allegedly as soon as he had stopped fearing for his life.
14.  During the two years which followed, investigators of the Zyuzinskiy district investigation unit of the investigative committee for Moscow carried out a pre-investigation inquiry and issued refusals to open a criminal case (dated 14 September 2007, 24 February 2008 and 2 May 2009) pursuant to Article 24 § 1 (1) or (2) of the CCrP, either because there was no evidence that a crime had been committed or because none of the elements of a crime under Article 286 § 3 of the Criminal Code (abuse of powers with use of violence) were present in respect of the actions of police officers A.A. and M. In doing so they relied on the police officers’ and investigator A.I.’s explanations denying any wrongdoing. They did not interview the applicant.
15.  According to explanations by the police officers received during the pre‑investigation inquiry, on 16 June 2007 they took the applicant – who according to operative information had committed a robbery – to the police station, where an “explanation” was received from him concerning the crime, without any physical or psychological pressure being exerted on him.
16.  The investigators’ decisions refusing to open a criminal case, except for the most recent decision of 2 May 2009, were overruled by the investigators’ superiors and an additional inquiry was carried out. On 15 January 2008 the investigator’s refusal of 14 September 2007 was overruled on the grounds that it had been premature and based on an incomplete inquiry, as it did not contain an explanation of the applicant’s injuries. On 23 April 2009 the investigator’s refusal of 24 February 2008 was overruled as premature.
17.  The investigator’s conclusions in the most recent refusal to open a criminal case dated 2 May 2009 were generally similar to the previous decisions. It also stated that the applicant had been convicted of several crimes and had been sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment, and that the police officers had acted in accordance with their duties.
18.  The applicant appealed against the investigator’s decisions of 24 February 2008 and 2 May 2009. His appeal against the former decision was not examined by domestic courts, which terminated the proceedings in view of the annulment of the decision by the investigating authority (decision of 24 April 2009 of the Gagarinskiy District Court of Moscow, as upheld on 28 October 2009 by the Moscow City Court). On 24 November 2010 the Gagarinskiy District Court of Moscow dismissed the applicant’s second appeal, holding that the decision of 2 May 2009 was lawful and well‑grounded. In particular, the court noted that the applicant’s arguments concerning his alleged ill-treatment by police officers A.A. and M. had been examined during his criminal trial and dismissed as unconfirmed. On 6 June 2011 the Moscow City Court dismissed the applicant’s appeal and fully endorsed the first‑instance court’s decision.
19.  On 11 December 2007 the Zyuzinskiy District Court of Moscow convicted the applicant of robbery and banditry, and sentenced him to eight years’ imprisonment.
20.  At trial, the applicant pleaded not guilty. He stated that on 16 June 2007 he had been arrested, driven to a police station and physically assaulted by police officers. The trial court dismissed the applicant’s allegations of ill-treatment by the police. It relied mainly on the investigator’s refusal to open a criminal case against the police officers of 14 September 2007 (subsequently overruled), noting there was no objective information showing that physical violence had been used against the applicant.
21.  The applicant’s co-accused, K., did not confirm his confession statements at the preliminary investigation, explaining that he had given them because police officers had physically assaulted him and had made him see the applicant’s beatings. The trial court dismissed his arguments and based its judgment on K.’s confession statements given at the preliminary investigation and other evidence.
22.  On 27 February 2008 the Moscow City Court upheld that judgment on appeal, holding that the applicant’s allegations that unlawful investigative techniques had been used had not been confirmed.
23.  The Government submitted statements collected by lieutenant colonel S. from the internal security department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow on 17 November 2016 from police officer M. and investigator A.I., in which both M., presently a senior operational police officer of the Criminal Search Department for the South-West Administrative Circuit of Moscow, and A.I., presently an investigator of the Department for the Fight against Organised Crime for the South-West Administrative Circuit of Moscow, denied any unlawful conduct and ill‑treatment in respect of the applicant after the applicant’s arrest in 2007.