Oktyabrsky district court of Grozny City has re-sentenced former police officer from Nizhnevartovsk City Sergei Lapin who is more known under operative call Cadet.
Lapin is sentenced to 10 and half years of prison in high security colony in accordance with Clauses 286 and 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The court has considered it to be proved the evidence of office abuse and infliction of bodily harm to the resident of Chechnya Zelimkhan Murdalov.
The first sentence to Lapin was made in March 2005 and he got then 11 years of prison. The case was investigated and brought to the court after publications by Anna Politkovskaya. A few days after Anna’s death, the first sentence was canceled by the judge Galiullin from the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. In spring this year the investigation was renewed.
The building of the deaf asylum does not exist any longer. In January 2000 it was occupied by officers from special police squad sent to Chechnya from Khanty-Mansiysk Okrug.
In June 2006 last police officers left the building having broken everything inside and left all the documents as a waste. On the same day the building got to be demolished. Civil rights advocates attempted to prevent the demolition, requiring that criminal expertise be made inside the building where tens of people were lost and maimed. But the prosecutor’s office having examined the building superficially - without even involving those who worked in it in 2000 – announced that there was nothing inside.
In March 2005 when Sergei Lapin got sentenced, many hoped that it would be followed by other sentences to those who were guilty of torturing innocent people made in the heat of large-scaled anti-terrorist operation. Relatives of the lost behind the walls of that building Sharip Khaisumov, Luiza Bopaeva, Edik Gelaev, Ramzan Alaudinov, Abdulkasim Zaurbekov and many others waited to know the truth about their kindred.
But no one learnt anything. Even relatives of the two killed boys - whose bodies were found on the territory of VOVD during searching for the lost Zelimkhan Murdalov – failed to get the truth.
It seems that Lapin is the only one from Khanty-Mansiysk squad to be sentenced. After first court proceedings his commanders Colonel Minin and Major Prilepin were put on the international wanting list but they haven’t been found so far.
Yet there are people who hope that justice will be administered. Each hearing of the case was visited by Alavdi Sadykov, a former teacher, who has to cover with grey hair the place where he had his left ear. It was cut off by Lapin’s countrymen who tortured the innocent man during several months. Alavdi calls their names, surnames and operative calls, but the criminals are still not found.
