Investigators again refuse to inquire into beating Mozdok resident by law enforcer

The Investigating Committee for North Ossetia has once again refused to initiate a criminal case against the law enforcer, whom Rostislav Melnichenko, a resident of Mozdok, accuses of beating. Earlier, the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of Russia found a similar decision to be illegal.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Yulia, Rostislav's sister, stated that on March 11, 2019, her brother was beaten up by a law enforcer and hospitalized with traumas, while the district police inspector, who witnessed the incident "did nothing to stop it."

Investigators have repeatedly refused to initiate a case on law enforcer's exceeding his powers, insisting that Melnichenko had himself attacked the law enforcer, while the latter had just defended himself.

Yulia Melnichenko has recalled in her Instagram page that in the fall of 2020, investigators stated that the law enforcer did not beat Rostislav up, but the latter simulated three jaw fractures when he was at hospital treating these fractures.

The investigator's refusal can be appealed against at the level of both national courts and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), said Nadezhda Ermolaeva, an advocate. She also sees a chance to further complain to the ECtHR about the inquiry's inefficiency.