The Vyksa City Court of the Nizhny Novgorod Region sentenced policeman Alexander Gutov to four years in a general regime colony in the case of violence against a detainee. This was reported by the “Team Against Torture”.
Gutov was found guilty of exceeding official powers with the use of violence (Part 3 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code). In addition to the main punishment, the court banned him from holding positions in the civil service for two years.
According to investigators, in October 2022, Gutov used a stun gun several times and punched detained resident of the city of Vyksa, Alexander Sharfutov, in the face. “He hit me on my arms, legs, thighs. One blow landed under the right eye. Blood began to flow from the wound; there was blood all over his cheek and clothes,” the victim recalled.
Sharfutov himself was detained on October 15, 2022, when he was returning home from a friend’s house drunk. At the police department, he was placed in a cold cell, which is why he started kicking on the door, demanding that they bring him a blanket or a jacket. Since they didn’t give him anything warm, he continued kicking the door, then the guard on duty burst into the cell and used a stun gun on him.
Subsequently, a criminal case was opened against Gutov — initially he was accused of abuse of power with the use of torture (Part 4 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code), but during the consideration of the case in court, the prosecutor asked to reclassify the charge to the more lenient Part 3 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code. The court agreed with the prosecutor.
At the same time, as the “Team Against Torture” emphasizes, Gutov changed his testimony several times. Even during the investigative actions, he admitted guilt, but later began to insist that he did not use force against the detainee. According to the security officer, Sharfutov himself accidentally came across his fist and a stun gun.
The moment of beating a resident of Vyksa was caught on a video surveillance camera. The recording shows that at that time there was another policeman next to Gutov — his name is Ilya Sokolov. Human rights activists asked that Sokolov be checked for abuse of power because he did not stop his colleague during the beating.
On July 11, 2023, it became known that the Investigative Committee did not bring Sokolov to criminal responsibility. The security officer explained his inaction during the beating of the detainee by saying that he had never read the law “On Police” and did not know how to behave. According to the “Team Against Torture”, when hiring Sokolov, his leadership did not check his knowledge of the law.