The European Court of Human Rights ordered Russia to pay political prisoner Azat Miftakhov 26 thousand euros. This amount is compensation for physical and moral harm for the torture that was used against Miftakhov during his arrest in 2019.
Miftakhov is only one of the cases considered by the ECHR on September 14, “Kozaev and others v. the Russian Federation.” The plaintiffs in the case reported torture that was used against them by Russian law enforcement agencies during their detentions and arrests. In total, there are 11 victims in the case.
The court decided to satisfy their claims. Each was awarded compensation in the amount of 26 thousand euros. The total amount that Russia must pay to the victims is 286 thousand euros.
Miftakhov and other victims are unlikely to receive the assigned payments. On September 16, 2022, Russia withdrew from the European Convention on Human Rights and no longer implements decisions of the ECHR. However, the court considered it possible to consider the case, since the offenses referred to in it were committed before Russia’s withdrawal from the jurisdiction of the ECHR.
Moscow mathematician and graduate student at Moscow State University Azat Miftakhov was detained in February 2019 on charges of hooliganism and sentenced to six years in prison. According to the investigation and the court, he and his like-minded people, who adhere to anarchist views, broke the window of the United Russia office in the Khovrino district of Moscow and threw a smoke bomb into the room. There was no one in the office at the time. Miftakhov reported that he gave evidence against himself under torture. Taking into account the time spent in the pre-trial detention center, Miftakhov was released on September 4 and immediately after that he was arrested on a new case of “justification of terrorism.” Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe on March 16, 2022 due to the launch of a military invasion of Ukraine. In response, Moscow decided not to implement ECHR decisions made after this date. The corresponding law was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 11.
