On September 14, the European Court of Human Rights published a decision on the case of the Iritov family from Kabardino-Balkaria, who suffered from the arbitrariness of security forces in Nalchik. Each family member was awarded 26 thousand euros in compensation for beatings and refusal to investigate their statements.
The conflict occurred on October 31, 2017. Aslan Iritov then headed the non-profit organization "Volny Aul", which distributed land plots among former members of the Nalchik state farm. After the village's territory was included in the city of Nalchik, its lands were put up for auction, but the state farm workers were unable to participate in the bidding due to the inflated amount of the deposit. In protest, they were going to hold a rally, but the day before, security forces came to Iritov's yard and demanded that he cancel the action. There were 12 police officers, including employees of the criminal investigation department and the center for combating extremism, and SOBR fighters.
The verbal dispute escalated into a brawl, which was joined by Alan Iritov's relatives - his brother, wife and daughter. As a result, the security forces beat the activist, his brother Beslan Iritov had a rib broken, his wife had a finger broken, and his daughter's face was smashed. Everything that happened was filmed on video by one of the police officers.
The Iritovs wrote a statement to the Investigative Committee of Nalchik, but no criminal case was opened on the fact of abuse of power by the security forces. However, Aslan and Beslan Iritov were found guilty of violence against police officers. The Nalchik City Court found them guilty of violence against police officers. Aslan was sentenced to 2 years of suspended imprisonment and a fine of 20 thousand rubles, Beslan - to six months in prison. Moreover, according to the investigation, Aslan Iritov grabbed the SOBR fighter with his hands and tried to strangle him. Meanwhile, the accused is a Group 1 disabled person, he has no hands. When journalists drew attention to the obvious absurdity of the accusation, this episode was edited in the case materials, writing that Aslan injured the security officer with a blow to the head. According to the Iritovs, the criminal cases against the brothers were fabricated in order to force them to withdraw their statements and stop writing complaints about the inaction of the investigative bodies, which refused to hold accountable the police officers who beat the disabled man and women. Having gone through all the instances in the Russian courts, the Iritovs, with the help of lawyers from the Committee Against Torture and Memorial, filed a claim with the ECHR. Their case was considered at a hearing on July 13, 2023, along with nine other claims against Russia in connection with torture or inhuman or degrading treatment (Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights).
The European Court awarded each family member 26,000 euros in compensation, but they will not receive it, at least not anytime soon. After the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Federation withdrew from the Council of Europe, and Vladimir Putin signed a law allowing the Russian government not to implement ECHR decisions made after March 15, 2022. Nevertheless, Aslan Iritov told reporters that he received moral satisfaction from the ECHR decision.
