Screenshot of a video showing the massacre of a Syrian prisoner
In June 2017, several Russian-speaking men tortured and then killed a Syrian citizen in Syria. The body was dismembered and burned. The head was hung on a fence for all to see.
More than two years after these events, Novaya Gazeta established that it happened near the Esh-Shaer gas processing plant, that the Russian-speaking men were militants of the group, which is commonly referred to as the Wagner PMC, that one of the participants was identified as the former Stavropol policeman Stanislav Dychko. The identity of the victim was also established — his relatives recognized him — this is Muhammad Elismail (this spelling was accepted in official translations, we previously wrote about him as Mohammed Taha Ismail Al-Abdullah, also known as Hammadi Taha Al-Buta).
Murdered Muhammad Elismail
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The Investigative Committee of Russia found no reasons for a procedural response. Despite the fact that all the necessary legal “components” for initiating a criminal case are available — a brutal murder was committed, it was established that this was done, although outside of Russia, but by Russian citizens (one of whom is named by name), in Syria he is liable not attracted. But no.
In March 2021, the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), Memorial Human Rights Center* and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) engaged lawyers Ilya Novikov and Petr Zaikin to help the brother of the deceased defend his rights as a victim of Russian law enforcement agencies. An official application was submitted to the Russian Investigative Committee demanding that the murder be investigated. The lawyers received no response. Three times during the year, complaints were filed with the court against the inaction of the IC, three times under various pretexts (lawyers consider these pretexts to be illegal), complaints were not accepted for consideration.
The fourth complaint was considered on January 18, 2021, 10 months after the filing of the crime report, the lawyers received the first written document.
The fact of death was not established
In short, Judge Yevgenia Nikolaeva found that the Investigative Committee was not going to check anything completely correctly, and decided to dismiss the lawyer’s complaint about the investigator’s inaction. She explained her decision by fully accepting the “objections to the lawyer’s complaint” submitted to the court by the Sledkom.
These “objections”, which fully satisfy the Basmanny Court, should be considered in more detail.
The head of the department of the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Pakhtusov, believes that the Russian investigation has no grounds to conduct a procedural check on the report of the murder of Muhammad Elismail.
And here's why. The «objections» state that «the fact of the death of M. Elismail has not been established and has not been documented.» We invite Mr. Pakhtusov to look at these photos and answer the question: is it possible to continue the life of a person whose head is separated from the body? «SingleImage_image__3qIDn» alt=»» />
The head of the murdered Elismail
Possible place of creation of video recordings (which depict the process of torture, murder, dismemberment of the corpse and mockery of the body of the murdered), according to the Investigative Committee, has not been established.
What exactly his employees did to install this place is not said. Probably nothing. Even though that is their job. Meanwhile, the crime was committed in a place that is quite subject to determination — the characteristic landscape of a destroyed industrial enterprise allows you to determine the point with an error of a hundred meters, which was done by Novaya Gazeta with the help of the Conflict Intelligence Team.
Similar area in the photo from the RIA FAN website
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Area map by Conflict Intelligence Team