St. Petersburg investigators open criminal case to investigate police torture of local teenager

The St. Petersburg Investigative Committee has opened a police overreach case that could carry sentences of up to 10 years in prison after local officers circulated a photograph of a 17-year-old’s battered face. The human rights center Zona Prava, which is representing the young man who was beaten, told Meduza that investigators believe unnamed police officers beat the victim using their batons.

Olesya Koval, the teenager’s mother, had previously explained that her son was arrested on May 28 during a suspected shoplifting incident, after which police officers both used their batons to beat him and threatened to rape him with the batons. Koval said police then circulated a photograph of her son to their coworkers.

According to Novaya Gazeta, regional police representatives have denied that their officers were involved in torturing the young man. On June 20, police opened an overreach case against the guards of the store where the teenager was first arrested.