The appellate instance of the Regional Court of Kostanay acquitted a resident of Astana, 32-year-old Roman Mikolauskas, who was sentenced to 7 years in prison on charges of illegal possession of drugs and an analogue of a psychotropic substance in large quantities for the purpose of selling.
Mikolauskas was detained by police in September last year when he arrived in Kostanay. The police found mephedrone and dried marijuana during the inspection of his apartment. However, as it was later established, the protocol of the inspection of the scene, the decision on the appointment of an expert examination of narcotic drugs and the expert’s opinion violated the Code of Criminal Procedure and were recognized as inadmissible evidence.
However, this is not the main thing. The police officers, who searched Mikolauskas’ apartment, managed to withdraw all the money from his bank card. Secondly, during the search of the car they stole his personal belongings. And thirdly, they appropriated his cell phone. But the worst thing is that during interrogations the detainee was subjected to beatings and torture, as a result of which he lost sight in his left eye. Another result of the torture was Mikolauskas’ confession of guilt in the crime that he didn’t commit.
Despite numerous protests and complaints, both by Mikolauskas himself and his lawyers, none of the supervisory authority reacted to these egregious violations of the law. As a result, on June 30, Roman Mikolauskas was found guilty and sentenced to 7 years in prison.
However, the appellate instance turned out to be more attentive and overturned the previous court verdict, fully acquitting Roman.
“In the present case, it has been established that Mikolauskas claimed that during the pre-trial investigation, police officers tortured him and inflicted bodily harm on him, as a result of which he lost sight in one eye. Taking into account the established fact of receiving bodily injuries in the form of grievous bodily harm, the failure of the competent authorities to take the measures required by international standards for a quick and impartial investigation into the allegation of torture, all the protocols of interrogations of Mikolauskas, the protocol of verification and clarification of testimony at the place, where he confessed, were recognized as inadmissible evidence. The Judicial Board also pointed out the unprecedented violations of the rights of Mikolauskas during the pre-trial investigation in this criminal case, namely: he received serious bodily harm with loss of vision in his left eye; damage to his car; theft of his personal belongings after his car was searched; use of the cell phone (confiscated from him) by police officers,” the press service of the Regional Court of Kostanay reported.
As for the police officers who detained and tortured Mikolauskas, criminal cases are being investigated against them on the facts of torture, abuse of power and official forgery.
