Press Release, 22.01.2020

Photo: Alexander Kondrov, Deputy Chairman of the Altai regional branch of Yabloko, “I demand justice”.

Alexander Kondrov, Deputy Chairman of the Altai regional branch of the Yabloko party and head of the research and production laboratory of the Altai Techological University, held a one-person picket (that does not require any permission from the authorities) near the walls of the regional Public Prosecutor’s office. Deputy Chairman of Altai Yabloko sought punishment for police officers who had beaten him. After the beating, a criminal case was instituted against Alexander Kondrov allegedly for his using “violence” against a representative of the authorities.

On 18 April, 2019, two officers of the Barnaul police arrived at Alexander Kondrov’s home, allegedly they dealt with the case of illegal debiting of insignificant funds from his wife’s bank card and demanded that Kondrov had to go to the police department for questioning as a witness. He refused to go to the police due to his sickness (due to the current legislation, he did not have the obligation to go to the police at that moment). Instead of writing out a summon for interrogation and leaving, the police used physical force and special equipment against him, and tried to force him to go to the police. As a result of the use of physical force and special equipment, Alexander Kondrov suffered bodily injuries, which were subsequently documented by a medical act. Alexander’s wife had to call the police by phone. Before the arrival of the on-call brigade, the police left the Kondrov’s house.

However, a few hours later, the policemen returned accompanied by other police officers, and they fraudulently lured Alexander into the street. According to Alexander, when he went outside, one of the policemen staged a fall, allegedly after a knockout blow by Alexander. After that, other policemen used physical force against Kondrov, handcuffed him and forced him into a private car of one of the policemen. After that, Alexander was handcuffed for more than six hours, then he was taken to the police department of the Zheleznodorozhny District by car and sent to the police station, where he was soon released.

On the second day, Alexander Kondrov filed a statement with the police and the Investigative Committee with a request to institute criminal proceedings against the police. According to Alexander Kondrov, a check on his statements was not carried out in full. The Ministry of Internal Affairs in Barnaul refused to provide the investigators the recordings from DVRs that could shed light on the case. All motions to the investigation (to investigate the bearings of telephone conversations, check the participants of the incident on the lie detector) were ignored.

The criminal case against the police officers has been closed and reopened several times after protests by lawyers, statements by the federal and regional governing bodies of the Yabloko party, and it is not being investigated properly. Zheleznodorozhny District Court of Barnaul has been examining the case Alexander Kondrov. Kondrov is accused of using violence against a government official (imprisonment of up to five years). The accusation is based on the statement of the “injured” policeman (other policemen claim that they did not see the strike) and the testimony of one witness, who is biased against Alexander, since he had previously lost a property dispute to him in court.