"Cadet" sentenced to 10.5 years in prison for torturing a Chechnya resident

Sergey Lapin (also known as "Cadet" by his radio ID code), former officer of the Nizhnevartovsk District Militia Unit (ROVD), who was found guilty of torturing a Chechnya resident, has been sentenced to 10.5 years of imprisonment. The verdict has been passed today by the Oktiabrskiy District Court of the city of Grozny.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by Natalia Estemirova, an employee of the representative office of the Human Rights Centre "Memorial" in the capital of Chechnya, who was present at the announcement of the verdict in the courtroom as an observer.

Lapin was found guilty of deliberate causing heavy damage to health of Zelimkhan Murdalov, a resident of Grozny, under aggravating circumstances (Part 3, Article 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), excess of official powers under aggravating circumstances (Part 3, Article 286) and service forgery (Article 292). According to Ms Estemirova, no punishment was appointed by the court for service forgery because of the expiry of the limitation term for this crime.

The former guard of the public order himself, when pronouncing his last plea to the court on November 26, has stated that he did not plead guilty and regretted that he had appeared for the trial to Pyatigorsk several years ago.

The verdict to "Cadet" on this case was passed for the second time already.