5.  The applicant was born in 1979 and is currently serving a prison sentence in Frolovo, Volgograd region.
6.  On 17 April 2009 Mr K. was found with very serious bodily injuries in the entrance to a block of flats. He died in hospital several days later.
7.  Between 7.15 a.m. and 8.55 a.m. on 18 April 2009 the scene of the incident was examined by investigator P. from the investigating unit of the Krasnoarmeyskiy district police department of Volgograd with the participation of attesting witnesses, police officers, and the applicant, who lived in the same block of flats. According to the record of the examination of the scene of the incident, the applicant stated that he had physically assaulted K. and described the circumstances of the crime committed by him against K. At around 9.30 a.m. the applicant was brought to the police station of the Krasnoarmeyskiy district of Volgograd (УВД по Красноармейскому району г. Волгограда), where operative police officers interviewed him about the circumstances of the crime.
8.  According to the applicant, they demanded that he give statements concerning the circumstances of the crime committed by him and subjected him to ill-treatment which the applicant described as follows. Having handcuffed him, they punched and kicked him, hitting him with a rubber truncheon and giving him electric shocks using a device called a “TP-50”. The applicant gave the statements as demanded.
9.  At 6 p.m. investigator Ye. of the investigating unit of the Krasnoarmeyskiy district police department of Volgograd initiated criminal proceedings against the applicant and his brother. At 8 p.m. the investigator drew up a record of the applicant’s arrest as a suspect and questioned him from 8.30 p.m. until 10 p.m. in the presence of D., a State-appointed lawyer invited by investigator Ye. The applicant repeated the statements incriminating himself and his brother and also stated that the previous evening he had been drunk and had fallen down a flight of stairs, and that he therefore had a headache and pain in the area of his ribs and kidneys.
10.  At 2.15 a.m. on 19 April 2009 the applicant was placed in a temporary detention facility (an “IVS”) at the Volgograd town police department. According to a document signed by a senior police transportation officer, the IVS duty officer and the applicant, the applicant had: (i) a haematoma on the left side of the body; (ii) a swelling on the left hip; and (iii) a swelling and redness on the right ear.
11.  On 20 April 2009 the Krasnoarmeyskiy District Court ordered his detention on remand. The applicant was taken to hospital no. 15. He complained of pain in his chest and in his left knee joint, and of generally feeling unwell. At the hospital he was diagnosed with contusion to the thoracic cage and left wrist, and his condition was assessed as not incompatible with being detained in a pre-trial detention facility.
12.  On 21 April 2009 the applicant was placed in pre-trial detention facility SIZO-4, where he was examined by the SIZO doctor who recorded multiple abrasions and haematomas on his trunk, and contusion to the thoracic cage and left wrist. The applicant was interviewed by the SIZO officer. He stated that he had received the injuries as a result of ill-treatment by police officers on 18 April 2009 whilst held at the Krasnoarmeyskiy district police department of Volgograd.
13.  The SIZO operative unit carried out an inquiry into the incident and concluded in a report of 22 April 2009 ‒ approved by the acting head of the SIZO ‒ that the applicant’s injuries had been inflicted by police officers from the Krasnoarmeyskiy district police department at about 11 a.m. on 18 April 2009 during the applicant’s interview.
14.  On 28 April 2009 the applicant was examined as an accused in the presence of lawyer D. The applicant stated that when examined as a suspect on 18 April 2009 he had given statements – concerning the origin of his injuries and also his brother’s involvement in the crime – as demanded by the police officers who had ill-treated him, as he had still been in physical pain and was under the influence of threats from them, as well as threats from investigator Ye. that he would find himself at the hands of those police officers again should he not give “correct” statements. The applicant described the circumstances of his alleged ill-treatment and retracted the statements he had given earlier incriminating his brother. The criminal proceedings against his brother were eventually discontinued for lack of evidence. The applicant reiterated his self-incriminating statements.
15.  On 29 April 2009 the Krasnoarmeyskiy district investigation division of the investigative committee at the Volgograd regional prosecutor’s office (“the Krasnoarmeyskiy district investigative committee”) received a communication from the SIZO concerning the applicant’s injuries.
16.  On 5 May 2009 a forensic medical examination of the applicant was carried out at the request of the investigator in charge of the criminal case against the applicant. The applicant stated to the medical expert that on 18 April 2009 he had been physically assaulted at the police station of the Krasnoarmejskiy district of Volgograd by police officers who had delivered many blows to his lumbar region, chest, shoulders, hips and ears, and had used a device called a “TP-50” to ill-treat him. He complained of pain in his chest. During the applicant’s forensic medical examination, the expert detected only one linear abrasion, measuring 23 mm by 2 mm, located within a bruise of indeterminate form on the left side of the applicant’s chest. The expert concluded that this injury had come about as a result of at least one (possibly tangential) impact by a hard, blunt object of limited surface area seven to nine days before the applicant’s examination, and had not caused him any “damage to his health ”.
17.  On 6 May 2009 investigator N. in charge of the inquiry into the applicant’s allegations of ill-treatment ordered an examination of the applicant’s medical records by the forensic medical expert . The investigator inquired whether the injuries could have been received as a result of the applicant falling down from his own height and hitting himself against “protruberant objects in the vicinity”. A forensic medical expert concluded in a report of 8 May 2009 that the applicant’s multiple abrasions and haematomas could have come about as a result of blows from hard, blunt objects or collisions with such objects and surfaces – including the applicant falling from his own height and colliding with curved objects. The expert further concluded that it was hard to establish the time at which the applicant’s injuries had been inflicted.
18.  Between 9 May 2009 and 16 June 2010 investigators from the Krasnoarmeyskiy district investigative committee issued eight refusals to initiate criminal proceedings into the applicant’s allegations of ill-treatment, finding, in accordance with Article 24 § 1 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, that none of the elements of the offences provided for in Articles 285 and 286 of the Criminal Code (on abuse of powers) were present in respect of the police officers’ actions. Those refusals were overruled by the head or deputy head of the Krasnoarmeyskiy district investigative committee as being unlawful, and the investigators were ordered to carry out additional inquiries.
19.  On 10 September 2009 the Krasnoarmeyskiy District Court of Volgograd convicted the applicant of manslaughter and sentenced him to nine years and six months’ imprisonment. The applicant was ordered to pay 500,000 Russian roubles to the victim’s mother by way of compensation for non‑pecuniary damage. The applicant was found to have invited the victim to his flat, to have inflicted many injuries on him, then moving the victim to the landing of the stairwell near the applicant’s flat and leaving him there. The applicant pleaded guilty and his confession served as a mitigating factor. The court based its judgment on the applicant’s consistent confession statements, the results of the search carried out in his flat in which the victim’s passport and clothing had been found, and other evidence. The trial court found that the applicant’s injuries had been unrelated to the actions of the victim of the crime and had been sustained after the crime had been committed.
20.  According to the most recent decision of an investigator of the Krasnoarmeyskiy district investigative committee of 11 September 2010, the police officers in question denied subjecting the applicant to ill‑treatment. Investigator P. stated that during the examination of the scene of the incident on 18 April 2009 the applicant had confessed that he had committed the crime. According to police officers B., D. and M. ‒ as well as E., the head of the criminal investigating unit of the Krasnoarmeyskiy district police department ‒ the applicant had been brought to the police station on suspicion of having inflicted very serious bodily injuries on K. At some point the applicant had been taken from a cell to E.’s office. The police officers had inteviewed the applicant and established the circumstances of the crime against K. According to B., the applicant had complained of pain in his chest, explaining that he had fallen down a flight of stairs.  The applicant’s mother stated that on 16 April 2009 she had seen the applicant without any sign of physical injury.
21.  In his decision of 11 September 2010 the investigator noted that, while being questioned as a suspect on 18 April 2009, the applicant had explained that he had fallen down a flight of stairs the day before as a result of being in an inebriated state. The investigator further noted that the applicant’s forensic medical examination results indicated that the applicant’s multiple abrasions and haematomas could have come about as a result of blows from hard, blunt objects or collisions with such objects or surfaces – including the applicant falling from his own height. The investigator concluded that none of the constituent elements of the alleged crimes had been present in the conduct of the police officers and refused to institute criminal proceedings under Article 24 § 1 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
22.  On 2 March 2010 the Volgograd Regional Court upheld the judgment in the applicant’s criminal case on appeal.