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The evidence gathered by the Main Investigations Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia was found by the court to be sufficient to sentence former police officer Sergey Plotnikov, former Head of Department for Solving of Crimes Against Property and Prompt Shut-down of Points of Sale of Criminal Investigation Operative Search Division of Ulan-Ude Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs Andrey Pavlov, former Chief of Department for Solving of Crimes Against Property of the Criminal Investigation Department of the I Ulan-Ude Police Department of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs Anatoly Oloktonov, and former senior police officer of the Criminal Investigation Department of the I Ulan-Ude Police Department of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs Tuman Manibadraev. Depending on the role of each, they were found guilty of committing offenses under Paragraphs A, B, and C of Part 3 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of Russia (exceeding official powers with the use of violence entailing grave consequences).

The investigation and the court established that on the evening of June 8, 2016, in a store in Darwin Street of Ulan-Ude police officers Plotnikov, Pavlov, Oloktonov, Manibadraev, and two officers of the Special Police Force detained a minor and his 18-year-old acquaintance on suspicion of theft of bicycles. In this, Plotnikov kicked the minor in the back at least two times and Pavlov kicked him in the legs. On the same day, the detainees were delivered by two cars to the building of the Criminal Investigation Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs over the Republic of Buryatia. Smolin also arrived to the building. In order to obtain testimony on unsolved acquisitive crimes, Pavlov, Oloktonov, Manibadraev, and Smolin walked the 18-year-old detainee in the dungeon and used physical violence against him. Having obtained the required information, Smolin and Manibadraev delivered the young man to the “crime scenes” of the crimes allegedly committed by the detainee. At the same time, Pavlov and Oloktonov brought the minor to the same dungeon. Pavlov inflicted at least 20 blows to various parts of the young man’s body. Apart from that, he used the available items to block the air access of the detainee which made the latter gag and deprived him of oxygen. On June 9, 2016, the police officers delivered the body of the minor to the reception of the Semashko Republican Clinical Hospital. According to the diagnosis of doctors, the child died of asphyxia on inhaled vomit.

During the preliminary investigation, the participants actively resisted establishing circumstances of the young man’s death. Thus, at first, the perpetrators were giving clearly agreed upon false testimony on the events of those days and denied their involvement in the death of the victim. Apart from that, they tried to influence witnesses and urge them to commit perjury in favor of the perpetrators. In order to establish the truth, investigators of the Investigative Committee of Russia carried out a significant amount of investigative actions including 120 witness interrogations and over 20 complex and labor-intensive examinations. Upon the initiative of the Investigative Committee of Russia, the examinations were mostly carried out in other regions to prevent the perpetrators from using their official powers to influence the results of the examinations.

As a result of the large-scale work, under pressure of the evidence obtained by the investigation, almost all convicts gave testimony proving their guilt.

The court sentenced Pavlov to 8 years of imprisonment, Oloktonov to 4 years, Smolin and Manibadraev to 3 years each. They all will serve their sentences in general regime penal colonies. Plotnikov was sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment, suspended.