The Investigative Committee responded to Tochiyev's complaint with a quote from Dzerzhinsky.

In his response to Ibrahim Tochiyev, who had previously complained to Putin about being beaten by police, the employees of the investigative department in Malgobek cited a phrase attributed to Felix Dzerzhinsky that a person's freedom may be a result of the security forces' shortcomings.

The Investigative Committee, responding to the complaint of Ingushetia resident Ibrahim Tochiyev about the refusal to initiate a case after he reported being beaten by the security forces, quoted a phrase attributed to Felix Dzerzhinsky about "cold head, hot heart, and clean hands".

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", on August 26, the Investigative Committee refused to initiate a criminal case after the complaint of Upper Achaluki resident Ibrahim Tochiyev about being beaten during a search, considering the use of physical force against him lawful. Earlier, Tochiyev appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Investigative Committee Chairman Alexander Bastrykin with a complaint that the security forces conducted a search in his home and beat him and his brother.

Ibrahim Tochiyev filed a complaint about the inaction of the investigator to the head of the investigative department for the city of Malgobek of the Investigative Committee of Russia for Ingushetia. In response to this complaint, he received a letter with a quote from Felix Dzerzhinsky: "That you are free is not your merit, but our shortcoming." A screenshot of the letter with the quote was published today in the Telegram channel of "Team Against Torture"*.

Human rights defenders noted that it is unknown who exactly sent this letter and who included Dzerzhinsky's quote in it.

Recall that earlier human rights defenders reported details of the beating of Ibrahim Tochiyev. The man was beaten in the presence of numerous relatives, and the beating began after he asked the investigator to introduce himself – the investigator ignored Ibrahim's words and "silently walked past". The beating started near the house and continued on the way to the service vehicle.

"Immediately after this moment, someone from the staff hit me from behind with two consecutive blows below the back of the head while I continued to stand facing the wall and was held on the sides <...> I was walking voluntarily, but several staff members, I don't know and didn't see who exactly, were hitting me in the head, in the kidneys, in the lower back – about 10-12 blows in total," Tochiyev said.

In January of this year, Ibrahim Tochiyev appealed to the leadership of the Investigative Committee, stating that officials and security forces were pressuring his family, trying to evict them from their home in the village of Upper Achaluki. According to Tochiyev, the village administration illegally annulled the documents regarding the head of the family's ownership rights to the land and house.

* included in the register of foreign agents by the Ministry of Justice of Russia.

** the activities of the Meta company (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) are banned in Russia.