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

Good day! My name is Rushan Khusnutdinov. I am from the Republic of Tatarstan, Chistopol city. I was given your e-mail; they said you could help me. I am sending you a document where all the details are written. I was tortured by police.

My full name is Khusnutdinov Rushan Ilgizovich, was born on October 29, 1989. I am a Russian citizen, live in Chistopol city, Tsiolkovsky Str. 7, apartment 95. My passport details are: serial number 9209, #741403, issued by the Department of FMS of Russia in the Republic of Tatarstan, Chistopol district, date of issue 08.12.2009. I work in the LLC “Istok” , married, have in dependents three young children: Ramazan (born in 2010) , Rayan (born in 2011), Rania (born in 2013). No previous convictions.

On December 2, 2013, at about 4:00 pm, criminal investigation officer Nikiforov A.V. and FSB officer Pikus (I don’t have complete name) came to my work, and without any reasons and official notice took me to form my work. They asked me to go to my house, and gave me the search warrant, in which I was accused, without evidence, in involvement in a crime. The warrant had neither the place or time, nor the person who committed the crime.

During search they seized my Laptop PB (I don’t remember the serial number), 9 CD discs, 2 flags, which had in Arabic “No God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger” statement on them. They did not give me a copy of the search report, which should have listed all the seized items. After a search, without a summons, they took me to the police station in Chistopol by car “VAZ ” 2114 with license plate N151EO 116 RUS.

I felt bad in police station, as I am sick with adhesive disease of abdominal cavity, and I called an ambulance (03) from your mobile phone. But the doctors were not allowed to see me and they could not provide me with medical care. Within five minutes, my hands were handcuffed and I was forced to get in the car “VAZ” 2114 of silver color (I don’t have complete information about the car) and was taken in an unknown direction. In the end, I realized that I was brought to the police station of the urban village Alekseevskoe, where I was brought to the investigative officer Vaganov. Vaganov decided to keep me in detention, again without evidence, for 48 hours (according to Article 94, as I remember) and they put me in the temporary detention isolator in Alekseevskoe village.

After 48 hours, I was taken to court of Alekseevskoe village, where the judge ruled on the extension of detention for up to 72 hours – form 07.12.2013 till 3:00 pm of 04.12.2013. On December 5, 2013, at approximately 7:00 pm, I was called in for interrogation, which was attended by people unknown to me (I know that two of them were from Alekseevskoe village, the other three from Kazan). After about 1.5 hours from the beginning of the interrogation, they were joined by Fedotov Y.N., officer of the Center for Combating Extremism of Chistopol.

After that, they started purring moral and physical pressure on me. First, they beat me on my face, about 10-15 times, then Fedotov Y.N. together with another officer grabbed my arms and twisted. One of them strangled me with his hands, and then I lost consciousness and fell on the floor. They brought me back to consciousness, put me on all fours on the floor, and pull down my clothes and pants. They looked for vodka to pour in my mouth, but could not find it. Then they took a large piece of pork fat and shoved it in my mouth, knowing that pork is forbidden to all Muslims. They threatened to rape me, and kept me in this position for about 20 minutes. They put pencils between the fingers and squeezed them with force. They beat on my feet, head, back. This “interrogation” lasted until 11:30 pm.

I was kept in the detention center Alekseevskoe village till 9:30 am of December 7, 2013. At 9:30 am, on December 7, 2013, I was handcuffed and forced to sign a document for release. After that three employees brought me out to the street through the main entrance of police office of Alekseevskoe village, forcibly put me into a car “Priora” of silver color (I done have complete information about the car), and took me to an unknown destination. As I understood from conversation of police officers, the car “Priora” belonged to officer Vaganov, and his driver was driving it. It appeared we were going to the police station of Nizhnekamsk city, and we arrived there at approximately 11:30 am of December 7, 2013.

These were all done with violation of my constitutional rights, since no one filled any documentation on my arrest. They brought me to a room, where they immediately started morally and physically torturing me. They sat me on the table in the middle of the room, put a hat on my head and started beating on the head. After an hour of this “interrogation”, they brought me to polygraphist. Only after this, I was taken to the investigator, who decided to detain me for 48 hours, again without any evidences.

Then, at around 8:00 pm on December 7, 2013, they brought me to another room, where two officers were sitting (I don’t have information about them), and began “interrogating” me. They handcuffed me, put my jacket and hat on me, and started beating me on my head, legs and arms. After some time, three other officers came in the room, all this time the room was closed on the lock. Then they put a plastic bag on my head and made me suffocate until I fell on the floor.

The torture continued for about 3 hours. At some point the plastic bad was torn. But they took a gas mask and continued the torture using it. One of them ordered the other to destroy the plastic bad, as it had my epithelium (saliva). They threatened to bring my wife and children, that they would rape my wife and beat my children in front of my eyes. “Interrogation” lasted until 7:30 am on December 8, 2013. All this time I was not allowed to sleep, eat, drink and perform prayers. On December 8, 2013 at 8:00 am, I was taken to the temporary detention center of Nizhnekamsk city.

All this time, my family did not know about my whereabouts. When I was put in the detention center, an employee told me that I was wanted, since my wife was looking for me and filed a wanted request to police. Employee (I don’t have her name) said that they (those who “interrogated” me) must write a report that I was in the temporary detention center of Nizhnekamsk city. After that I was placed in the cell #2 of the detention center. At 4:15 pm on December 9, 2013, I was released from the detention center of Nizhnekamsk. The reason for all these tortures was to make me confess to crimes or testify against some people.

I ask you to protect me from these officers. I am not guilty of anything. I am a law-abiding citizen of the Russian Federation, an exemplary Muslim practicing traditional Islam, an exemplary husband and father, have no previous convictions.

Please, help to check the legality of the actions of police officers against me. I don’t know any of them, except Fedotov Y.N. Since Y.N. Fedotov was present during the torture in Alekseevskoe village, he knows the rest of the staff who took part in this.

Please, help me to bring to justice all these officers who kidnaped and tortured me in Alekseevskoe village and in Nizhnekamsk, as these actions are punished according to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. As a result of these events, I have a headache, my whole body hurts, my parents, relatives, wife and minor children experienced severe nervous breakdown.

I hope that you will soon answer to my complaint.

I am a citizen of the Russian Federation and demand that my constitutional rights are respected.

Khusnutdinov Rushan

January 1, 2014

Editor’s note: Russian citizen Rushan Khusnutdinov’s complaint was received in the email of Mutabar Tadjibayeva, head of international human rights organization “Fiery Hearts Club.” Subsequently, the human rights activist sent a letter to France-based international human rights organization ACAT (Christian activists against Torture), which widely studies cases of torture around the world and provides legal assistance to victims.