4.  The applicant was born in 1976 and is currently serving a prison sentence.
5.  On 14 March 2007 criminal proceedings were initiated into the disappearance of A.S. in Irkutsk. The applicant was suspected of having committed aggravated murder against A.S. The applicant was arrested in Ussuriysk at around 9 a.m. on 8 April 2007 by traffic police officers, taken to the Ussuriysk town police station and held in a temporary detention cell overnight. Next day he was taken to Irkutsk by aeroplane.
6.  There are no indications in statements by four traffic police officers who arrested the applicant (made on 16 April 2007 to an investigator of the Ussuriysk town prosecutor’s office) that the applicant resisted arrest or that any force or handcuffs were used in the course of his arrest.
7.  At around 11 p.m. on 9 April 2007 the applicant was taken to the Sverdlovskiy district police department of Irkutsk.
8.  His account of subsequent events is the following. He was placed in a room on the third floor, where seven police officers were waiting. They shackled him to a chair and subjected him to beatings during the night of 9 April 2007. They placed a gas mask over his head and closed off the air flow. He was kicked in the chest, punched in the ears and given electric shocks. He lost consciousness several times. The applicant agreed to sign papers given to him by the police officers on the condition that they stopped physically assaulting him.
9.  According to a record of the applicant’s arrest for murder signed by the applicant in the absence of a lawyer, it was drawn up at 12.30 a.m. on 10 April 2007 by investigator A.M. from the Sverdlovskiy district prosecutor’s office of Irkutsk. It indicates that the applicant was arrested at 10 p.m. on 9 April 2007 at the Sverdlovskiy district police department.
10.  Next morning, from 10.30 a.m. to 2.20 p.m., investigator P. from the Sverdlovskiy district prosecutor’s office questioned the applicant as a suspect in the presence of a lawyer appointed by investigator P. According to the record of the questioning, the applicant gave statements voluntarily, he had injuries from handcuffs because “he had put up resistance”, and he was not subjected to any violence. The applicant gave self-incriminating statements in relation to the crimes against A.S. Later, during his trial, the applicant claimed that the State-appointed lawyer had not been present during his questioning and had only signed the record of his questioning at the end. On an unspecified date (before 6 June 2007) another lawyer started representing the applicant.
11.  At 11.20 p.m. on 10 April 2007 the applicant was placed in an Irkutsk temporary detention facility (IVS).
12.  On 11 April 2007 the Sverdlovskiy District Court of Irkutsk remanded the applicant in custody. On the same day the applicant was placed in a pre-trial detention facility in Irkutsk (IZ 38/1/2).
13.  According to a certificate signed by the IVS doctor, the applicant was examined on 11 April 2007 and had bruises in the area of the left collarbone, left shoulder and left lumbar region, and abrasions in the area of the elbow joints, both hands and wrists. The certificate referred to a home accident without any further details.
14.  On 11 April 2007 investigator P. ordered a forensic medical examination of the applicant in connection with the criminal case against him. According to report no. 4046 completed on 11 April 2007 by the Irkutsk Regional Forensic Medical Bureau, he was examined that day. The applicant had the following injuries: (i) ten irregularly shaped bruises measuring between 9 x 7 cm and 3 x 2 cm on his chest, left shoulder, left iliac bone, both forearms, elbows, right of the lower spine and outside of the left ear, which had been caused by hard, blunt objects with a limited surface area; and (ii) eleven abrasions in stripe-like shapes measuring between 3 x 0.2 cm and 1 x 0.2 cm on his right wrist and wrist joints, which had been caused by hard objects with an explicitly limited surface area. All injuries had been caused approximately two days before the examination and were classified as injuries not occasioning actual bodily harm. In reply to the investigator’s question whether the injuries could have been self-inflicted by the applicant’s own hand, the expert stated that the injuries were not of the kind which could be inflicted by one’s own hand.
15.  According to records from IZ 38/1/2, on arrival on 11 April 2007 the applicant was examined and had (i) a contusion to soft tissues in the area of the right elbow joint; (ii) abrasions on both wrist joints; and (iii) abrasions on the right wrist.
16.  According to the applicant, soon after his arrival at the pre-trial detention facility he lodged a complaint with the Irkutsk regional prosecutor’s office requesting that the police officers be prosecuted for their unlawful conduct.
17.  According to a letter of 29 May 2009 from IZ 38/1/2, on 16 April 2007 the material in relation to the applicant’s injuries recorded on his arrival at IZ 38/1/2 was forwarded to the Ussuriysk town police department for an inquiry. According to a letter of 10 June 2009 from the Ussuriysk town police department, the applicant’s complaint was examined and a refusal to institute criminal proceedings was issued pursuant to Article 24 § 1 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (“CCrP”) for lack of the elements of a crime.
18.  On 12 March 2008 the investigative committee for the Irkutsk region refused to initiate criminal proceedings based on a pre-investigation inquiry into the applicant’s injuries which had been recorded by the forensic medical expert. The investigator noted the applicant’s statements that he had had injuries from handcuffs because “he had put up resistance” and that he had not been subjected to any violence. The investigator concluded that the injuries on his wrists had been caused as a result of the justified use of handcuffs because under the domestic law the police had a right to use handcuffs to suppress resistance and escort arrested individuals to a police station safely. The investigator further noted that the applicant’s statements had not contained any explanations in relation to the remainder of the applicant’s injuries or a request to prosecute those responsible. He stated that an assault not occasioning actual bodily harm (Article 116 § 1 of the Criminal Code) was a case of private prosecution which could not be opened without a relevant complaint against those responsible. He concluded that no criminal proceedings should be initiated pursuant to Article 24 § 1 (5) of the CCrP since no such complaint had been lodged by the applicant.
19.  On 28 April 2010 the Irkutsk Regional Court received the applicant’s appeal dated 16 April 2010 against the refusal to institute criminal proceedings of 12 March 2008. In his appeal the applicant stated that his complaint about the police ill-treatment dated 5 May 2007 had been dispatched by the pre-trial detention facility on 7 May 2007.
20.  On 3 December 2013 the Oktyabrskiy District Court of Irkutsk examined the applicant’s complaint that a timely investigation into his ill‑treatment by the police officers had not been conducted and that the decision of 12 March 2008 refusing to open a criminal case was unlawful. The court held that the decision of 12 March 2008 was lawful and well‑founded and that there had been no inactivity on the part of the investigating authority in dealing with the applicant’s complaint.
21.  It appears that on 12 March, 23 April and 17 August 2009 refusals to open a criminal case were issued in relation to the applicant’s complaint of ill-treatment by the investigative committee for the Sverdlovsk district of Irkutsk pursuant to Article 24 § 1 (2) of the CCrP, as none of the elements of the crime under Article 116 § 1 of the Criminal Code were present. The former two refusals were annulled on unspecified dates.
22.  On 12 April 2011 the acting head of the investigative committee for the Sverdlovsk district of Irkutsk overruled the refusal to open a criminal case of 17 August 2009 as unsubstantiated and unlawful, and ordered an additional inquiry. She pointed out the need to interview the applicant, identify the police officers he had resisted during his arrest, interview those police officers, assess police officers’ alleged misconduct under Articles 286 § 3 (a) and 302 of the Criminal Code (abuse of powers with the use of violence and forced extraction of confession respectively), and carry out other activities in order to ensure a full inquiry.
23.  In a letter of 12 October 2011 the Irkutsk regional prosecutor’s office informed the applicant that on 22 April 2011 the investigative committee for the Sverdlovskiy district of Irkutsk had refused to open a criminal case in relation to the applicant’s complaint of ill-treatment by the police officers from the Sverdlovskiy district police department of Irkutsk pursuant to Article 24 § 1 (2) of the CCrP, as none of the elements of the crime under Article 286 § 3 (a) of the Criminal Code were present.
24.  On 24 June 2008 the Irkutsk Regional Court convicted the applicant of A.S.’s murder, theft and other offences and sentenced him to nineteen years’ imprisonment, to run from 9 April 2007. It relied, in particular, on the applicant’s self-incriminating statements made during his questioning as a suspect.
25.  At his trial, the applicant pleaded guilty in part. He alleged that unlawful investigation techniques and violence had been used to force him to confess to the crimes. In particular, he stated that when he had been taken to the Sverdlovskiy district police station, a gas mask had been placed over his head and he had been given electric shocks to extract a confession. According to the applicant, he had been questioned all night long, had lost consciousness, and had been ready to sign any papers. His hands had been injured by handcuffs.
26.  The trial court dismissed the applicant’s allegations of ill-treatment, noting that he had not indicated who had allegedly used violence against him, and had not explained why violence had been used against him after he had given his self-incriminating statements about the crimes.
27.  On 11 December 2008 the Supreme Court of Russia partly modified this judgment on appeal and sentenced the applicant to eighteen years’ and six months’ imprisonment. The appellate court relied on the refusal to open a criminal case of 12 March 2008, noting the applicant’s statements that the injuries on the wrists had been caused as a result of the use of handcuffs to suppress the applicant’s resistance. It fully endorsed the trial court’s findings concerning the applicant’s alleged ill-treatment and its use of the applicant’s self-incriminating statements at the preliminary investigation as evidence.
28.  On 24 November 2009 a judge of the Supreme Court of Russia rejected the applicant’s request for supervisory review of his case, stating that the decisions of the courts of both instances to dismiss the applicant’s complaint that he had been coerced by violence to give his self‑incriminating statements were well-founded.
29.  On 9 June 2012 the Irkutsk Regional Court ordered that the term of the applicant’s imprisonment should run from 8 April 2007, the day when he had actually been arrested.