In 2017, security forces broke into the house of a builder and Nalchik resident Rustam Kuchmenov. He was taken to the police department, where they tried to force him to confess to the theft. There, as Rustam recalls, he was brutally tortured, reports the Team Against Torture.
According to the victim, he was tortured with electric shock, beaten and doused with water. The metal structure implanted in his cervical vertebrae was broken. One of the policemen jabbed an awl into his leg twice. Another said he would crush his head and play football with it. Since then, Kuchmenov has been experiencing pain and cramps, and has problems with his spine.
Soon, a criminal case was opened against Rustam Kuchmenov for theft and he was sentenced to six years in prison. According to investigators, he and his accomplices committed domestic thefts. The man did not admit his guilt.
The investigative authorities of Kabardino-Balkaria many times stopped the investigation of the case based on Kuchmenov’s complaint about torture in the police department.
