Rights activists demand that Dagestan authorities punish militiamen for beating teenager

In Dagestan, activists of public organizations bag subscriptions under an open letter to President of the republic Magomedsalam Magomedov with a demand to investigate the crime committed on Makhmud Ahmedov, 14. They ask to stop militia's lawlessness and punish those guilty of beating the teenager.

Let us remind you that on July 26 the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" reported that in the building of the OVD (Interior Division) of Khebda village, Shamil District of Dagestan, militiamen severely beat Makhmud Ahmedov, 14.

On that very day under initiative of the HRC "Memorial" a meeting took place of the Ombudsperson in the Republic of Dagestan Ummupazil Omarova with relatives of the beaten boy. The meeting was attended Makhmud's mother and aunt and representatives of the HRC "Memorial" and the organization "Mothers of Dagestan for Human Rights". The Ombudsperson promised to take the investigation of the case under her supervision.

On July 27, as the HRC "Memorial" reports, at about 3:30 p.m. inspector Magomed Magomedov came to the hospital for interrogating Makhmud. His relatives invited an advocate and Sirazhutdin Datsiev, an employee of the HRC "Memorial" who knows the Avar language. Then, the inspector reappointed the interrogation on 8:00 p.m. but failed to appear and appointed 8 in the morning on the following day.

On July 28, at 8:00 in the morning, the "Memorial" workers were in hospital, but the inspector never came. At 8:40 a.m. Datsiev left, and at 8:50 the inspector appeared and started interrogating the boy without interpreter. Aishat Guseinova, who, like her son, does not speak Russian, said that she would not allow interrogating her son without the advocate and the Avar-speaking employee of the HRC "Memorial"; she called right defenders. A new interrogation was appointed on 1:00 p.m., but the inspector again appeared only after the activists had left. When the employee of the "Memorial" returned, he saw the inspector already drawing up the protocol.

The protocol ran that Makhmud took the militia car by himself and expressed a wish to go with militiamen to the station. When Datsiev translated the text of the protocol to the relatives, the mother of the child and his relatives were indignant.

On July 30, at about 10:00 Makhmud was visited in the hospital by some unknown person in civilian clothes. He examined the boy, said that "no beatings are present" and went to the chief physician of the hospital. At 11:30 a.m., a group of employees of the investigatory committee arrived and photographed the child for surveying.

The open letter of human rights activists to President Magomedsalam Magomedov says that the growth dynamics of militia lawlessness in the republic "is progressing so rapidly that people have a feeling of full absence of control over law enforcement bodies in Dagestan." "Quite recently the Dagestan militia refrained from beating women and torturing children, but today they have stepped over this threshold. This is the road to a catastrophe," runs the letter already signed by 131 persons.