In the Russian state, law has long since become an instrument of arbitrary power in the hands of the authorities.
Any “emotional discomfort” caused to them can easily turn into very tangible consequences for a person — beatings, torture, and loss of freedom. Especially if that person refuses to stay silent and instead defends citizens’ rights, irritating those for whom law and human rights are nothing more than an inconvenient obstacle. The most disgusting part of this practice is that the victim of violence is then often turned into the accused, with “assault” attributed to them against their own aggressors. It appears that this is exactly the implementation of that practice that we are witnessing in this case.
In Irkutsk, security forces brutally beat well-known human rights defender Viktor Grigorov after his detention.
The day before, well-known local lawyer and human rights defender Viktor Grigorov was detained in Irkutsk.
According to his defense lawyer, the detention was accompanied by gross and unlawful violence: Grigorov was violently restrained and then beaten inside the Kirov Investigative Department building. Blood remained on his trousers. The human rights defender was then taken by ambulance to Kirov City Hospital No. 3, where doctors documented his injuries. Initially, a doctor stated that hospitalization was necessary, but after a conversation between the investigator and the doctor, Grigorov was taken back to the Kirov Investigative Department instead of receiving treatment.
Grigorov himself says that the grounds for the persecution were an absurd accusation that Investigative Committee officer Zobov had allegedly “experienced pain” during the hearing of a case in the Kirov District Court of Irkutsk. Viktor was detained during the day, but his lawyer was denied access to him for several hours, which looks like the deliberate isolation of a person without proper legal assistance.
Today it became known that Grigorov had been detained for 48 hours. It is also reported that the security forces only bothered to give him food today: throughout the previous day he was kept without food and without water. Such treatment looks far more like pressure and abuse than lawful procedural conduct.
As his lawyer relayed, Viktor Pavlovich said that what was happening had been expected and predictable. He sends his regards to both his friends and his enemies.
Meanwhile, the Irkutsk branch of the Investigative Committee issued a statement about the detention of the human rights defender, declaring him a suspect in the alleged “attack” on employees of the investigative department. Two criminal cases have been opened against Grigorov under the article on “use of violence against a representative of authority” (Part 1, Article 318 of the Russian Criminal Code).
According to the investigation, on March 10, in an office of the investigative department for Irkutsk’s Kirov District, he allegedly used violence not dangerous to life or health against an investigator. In addition, in January of this year, while inside the courthouse, the human rights defender allegedly “used violence” against the deputy head of the investigative department for the Irkutsk District.
At the same time, in its official statement, the Investigative Committee completely omitted Grigorov’s own allegation that he was beaten by security forces. In other words, the agency’s version already appears one-sided and deliberately cleansed of information compromising law enforcement officers. The issue of sending the human rights defender to pre-trial detention is now being decided.