21:27, 17 January 2007

The case of "Cadet," convicted for tortures in Chechnya, will be reconsidered

On January 17, the Supreme Court of Russia has ruled to send the case of Sergey Lapin (radio call sign "Cadet"), criminal search senior lieutenant of the Interior Department of the city of Nizhnevartovsk, who was convicted for torturing Zelimkhan Murdalov, a resident of Grozny, capital of Chechnya, to the first instance court for a new consideration. This information was reported by Fredericka Ber, a researcher of the Amnesty International human rights organization for Russia.

Presently, the hero of Anna Politkovskaya's publications is serving his sentence of 11 years of deprivation of freedom in the city of Nizhni Tagil, Sverdlovsk Region. The process may start in about a month and a half.

We remind you that on March 29, 2005, the Oktiabrskiy Court of Grozny sentenced militia senior lieutenant Sergey Lapin, nickname "Cadet," to 11 years of deprivation of freedom. The agent of the Khanty-Mansijsk Special Militia ("OMON") was alleged that in January 2001 he illegally detained, subjected to beating and tortures and then took into unknown place Zelimkhan Murdalov, a resident of Grozny.

Author: Vyacheslav Feraposhkin, CK correspondent