On March 23, the Fifth Court of Cassation in Pyatigorsk approved the decision on the administrative claim of a native of Chechnya, Mansur Razhaev, against colony No. 6 in the Khabarovsk Territory, where he is serving a life sentence. The prisoner sued the colony administration for 3 thousand rubles for violating the conditions of detention.
Mansur Razhaev was convicted in 2012. The Supreme Court of Dagestan found him guilty of participating in the execution of six captured servicemen of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Dagestan village of Tukhchar in September 1999. The defendant admitted that he was present at the execution along with other militants, but stated that he himself did not kill anyone.
In February 2020, Razhaev applied to the administration of IK-6 with a request to familiarize himself with the materials of his personal file and to issue a copy of these materials at his expense. However, he was given only the first volume of a multi-volume file. The prisoner filed a lawsuit against the colony, demanding that its actions be declared illegal and violating his right to defense, since he needed the case materials to file a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights. He also asked to be awarded compensation in the amount of 200 thousand rubles for violating the conditions of detention in a correctional institution.
In March 2021, the Zavodskoy District Court of Grozny upheld the claim, but the appeal court overturned this decision. The re-examination ended with the amount of compensation being reduced to 3 thousand rubles, but Razhaev was allowed to familiarize himself with the materials he requested.
Mansur Razhaev sued the colony several times. Thus, he defended his right to correspond with the ECHR, speak in his native Chechen language during video conferences with the defense and the courts, and demanded compensation from the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation for violation of his right to legal proceedings within a reasonable time. Each time, the court satisfied his claims, reducing compensation by 8-10 times and awarding 2-3 thousand rubles.
In addition, Razhaev appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, claiming that after his arrest in 2007, he was beaten, subjected to electric shocks and suffocation, threatened with sexual violence and forced to confess to terrorist crimes. The ECHR awarded him compensation in the amount of 52 thousand euros.