To Мutabar Tadjibayeva, head of international human rights organization “Fiery Hearts Club”.

Complaint

Dear Ms.Tadjibayeva,

My name is Alida Manafova. I am from the Republic of Tatarstan, the town of Chistopol. I was given your e-mail address and said that you can help me. I am sending you a document, which describes in detail how policemen tortured my husband.

Our house, which is also a house of his relatives, was searched on 5 December, 2013. My husband’s name is Almaz Arslanovich Galiev, the address of the house is 76/2, Galaktionova Street, Chistopol. There were six men dressed like civilians; it was unclear what law-enforcement bodies they represented as they did not clearly explain that to us. They searched our house in the presence of small children, and confiscated 2 tablets, 2 laptops, the book entitled “Fortress of the Muslim”, a notebook and CDs. During the search, one of the officers told me to get out of the house with our children. When I said that I was not going to leave as I had nowhere to go, he told me that I was shameless. During the search, the officers went to each room of the house. That was how they completed the first search.

After the search at 04.00 p.m., my husband was taken to the Chistopol police station for interrogation without any official written notification. They interrogated him using a polygraph, and then released him. My husband came home at about 08.00 p.m. Two employees came to take my husband away on 11 December at 05.45 p.m. without any subpoena and court order. It was not clear what structures they came from as they were dressed in civilian clothes. They did not show any identification documents. When I asked where they were taking my husband and why, they told me in a rude manner that they might take me, too. My husband did not come back home.

On 12 December, four employees from the Interior Department (Police) of Nizhnekamsk city took my husband’s car away without any written notification. They did not make any protocol while taking the car away by a car evacuator. They said they were taking the car away for examination and would give it back in 20 days. My husband used the car by power of attorney.

In the morning we went to the Chistopol police station to make inquiries about my husband. They replied that my husband was not there, and they did not interrogate him. That day we hired a lawyer and found out that he was kept in the detention center of the city of Nizhnekamsk.

The next day, on 13 December, we learned from the lawyer that my husband was taken away from the detention cell to the Nizhnekamsk city hospital. Our lawyer was not given access to visit him. In the evening of that day, the lawyer managed to find out that my husband was in a serious condition in the intensive care. There was no access to visit him. A few days later, he was transferred to a therapy section ward. Nobody explained to us how come my healthy husband appeared to be in the hospital, why he was taken to the Nizhnekamsk detention center. Our lawyer did not have access to visit him as the ward he was kept in was guarded by policemen.

Two days later I hired a second lawyer. During the trial, when the court ordered to arrest my husband for two months, the lawyer managed to ask my husband what happened to him, why he was in the hospital. My husband said that on 12-13 December, they put pressure on in the Nizhnekamsk detention center. He said they tortured him using electricity, and try to force him to confess to crimes he did not commit. According to his lawyers, he was absent-minded, could not remember anything. In the detention center, they amputated his penis. Employees of the detention center asserted that he allegedly did that by himself.

On 17 December at 05.45 p.m., officers from the Nizhnekamsk police department came and searched our house for the second time in the presence of our young children. It was not clear to me what they were looking for (they said they were looking for extraneous objects). They took all the clothes of my husband, his working tools and broken telephone. On 28 December at 09.00 a.m., officers from the Nizhnekamsk police department came and conducted searches for the third time. They searched the basement, took bottles with liquids, old gloves and various old wires.

At present, my husband is kept in an investigative isolation ward in the city of Bugulma. I have no more information about him.

Please, help check the legality of the actions of the employees in relation to my husband. Please help us punish those employees according to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, who kidnapped and tortured my husband. As a result of these events, my parents, relatives and minor children have nervous breakdown.

I hope that you will immediately react to my complaint.

We are citizens of the Russian Federation, and demand that our constitutional rights are respected.

Alida Manafova.

10 January, 2014

The editor’s note: Dear reader, we continue receiving e-mails from residents of Tatarstan addressed to Mutabar Tadjibayeva, the head of international human rights organization Fiery Hearts Club. In their emails, they complain about illegal detentions and tortures of their relatives executed by representatives of Tatar law enforcement authorities. The human rights activist intends to send this email, too, to International Human Rights Organization ACAT (Christian activists against Torture) based in France, which thoroughly studies cases of torture around the world and provides legal assistance to victims of torture.