The European Court of Human Rights registered the application submitted by convicted person Ayub Tuntuyev on June 7, 2016, and will examine it under priority policy, taking into account the important and urgent nature of the issues set out in the application.
On May 28, 2016, Tuntuyev was sent in an unknown destination, probably was transferred to an unknown destination, probably in Pyatigorsk (Stavropol Territory Department of the Federal Corrections Service Remand Prison No 2), to the location where investigations were taking place into the crimes that he confessed to after undergoing a beating and threats of rape.
Tuntuyev, in his most recent statement of May 20, 2016, said that he was taken from his cell and taken to be interrogated by an FSB officer who had already threatened him earlier when he was in Prison Colony 6. The FSB officer asked him who acted on his behalf to send an application to the ECHR. Subsequently, he was beaten and forced to sign 50 sheets of procedural documents, the contents of which were unknown to him. He was also forced to refuse the services of a lawyer.
“The investigator said that I must sign a document refusing the services of lawyer Tagir Shamsutdinov, who was protecting my interests. I made it known to the investigator that I did not wish to do this. The investigator did not insist. Later, the investigator left Prison Colony 6 and the FSB officers I mentioned above began making verbal threats and promised that I would have trouble”, Tuntuyev said.
Lawyers from Russian Justice Initiative, citing the investigation agencies’ total lack of action and the pressure put on Tuntuyev, asked for Rule 39 to be applied to his case”.
“We know nothing about Tuntuyev’s whereabouts between May 26 and June 7, 2016. He is under constant danger. We hope that the European Court of Human Right’s attention will guarantee his safety”, said Diana Kostina, lawyer with Russian Justice Initiative. Tuntuyev earlier filed two applications with the ECHR for use of torture and refusal to investigate these instances.