Yakutin: Case Materials Read Out

About the case: Police Lieutenant Ilya Vyacheslavovich Yakutin, a traffic police (DPS) officer, is charged with exceeding his official powers with the use of torture, resulting in grave bodily harm (Part 5 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). According to the investigation, he was pursuing a car that had refused to stop when signaled by the police. When the car was finally stopped in a courtyard, Yakutin pulled two passengers out of it (neither of whom was the driver) and beat them. One of the victims was hospitalized in serious condition.

The case is being heard by the Frunzensky district court of St. Petersburg, with Judge Roman Aleksandrovich Chebotarev presiding.

Taking part are Yakutin, his defense counsel (lawyer Palshkov), Chezhia, assistant prosecutor of the Frunzensky District of St. Petersburg, the victim Krasnov, Krasnov’s representative (lawyer Gerasimov), and the representative of the victim Stepanov (lawyer Tereshchenko). The table for the parties is occupied by the lawyers and the state prosecutor, and in the end there are still free seats at it, yet for unknown reasons the defendant and the victim sit on the public benches.

Because a witness has failed to appear, the prosecution changes the order in which evidence is presented, and the case materials are read out. Audibility is generally satisfactory, except at certain moments when the court secretary walks around the courtroom, whispers with the judge, goes out into the corridor, and so on, drowning out the state prosecutor’s voice with the noise:

– the decision to open a criminal case against Yakutin dated December 12, 2025; the decision to correct details (a “technical error” in the date of the document) dated March 7, 2026;

– the report on the detection of signs of a crime addressed to the head of the investigative department for the Frunzensky District of St. Petersburg;

– Inspector Yakutin’s reports and rulings on administrative offenses under Part 2 of Article 12.3 and Part 1 of Article 12.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses concerning Olenichenko;

– the patrol duty log and the deployment schedule of patrol units for December 10, 2025; the duty assignment; the job description; an extract from the order appointing Yakutin as a traffic police inspector;

– the official performance evaluation of Yakutin by the deputy commander of the separate company. He has served in the internal affairs bodies since 2002 and as a traffic police inspector since 2022. Throughout his service he has proven himself in an exclusively positive light, has high performance indicators, knows the regulatory framework well, and applies it skillfully in practice. In difficult situations he keeps his composure and the ability to make competent, balanced decisions. He is respected by his colleagues; by nature he is restrained, friendly, calm, and courteous, and he behaves the same way when dealing with members of the public;

– the record of the acceptance of a crime report from the victim Stepanov: “I request that criminal proceedings be brought against the traffic police officer who, during the night of December 10–11, 2025, kicked me at least 3 times in the torso and head, causing me physical pain and moral suffering; I offered no resistance whatsoever to the police officer”;

– an entry from the register of incident reports (a telephone message received from a medical facility);

– a request from the head of the criminal investigation unit to the Sestroretsk city hospital; a certificate with Krasnov’s medical diagnoses dated December 11, 2025;

– the record of the investigator’s inspection of the scene (the traffic police department of the Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Frunzensky District) with the participation of the separate company’s commander, dated December 12, 2025;

– the record of the investigator’s examination of items and documents (January 2026). A flash drive with video recordings is examined. At 00:08 the police officers turn on their flashing lights and the pursuit of the vehicle begins. 36 seconds later (at 00:09), traffic police officer Misikov opens the driver’s door; the second officer approaches the passenger door and kicks someone at least 3 times, then moves to the other side of the car, where he is out of the cameras’ direct line of sight. Sharp movements are visible, which may indicate that something is being done on the far side of the vehicle. He comes back and knocks a person down by kicking his legs, and the person falls onto the asphalt from his own height. At 00:18 a second traffic police car appears; at 00:36 the victims leave, with Krasnov swaying from side to side;

– the decisions recognizing Krasnov and Stepanov as victims dated December 12, 2025;

– the record of the investigator’s examination of items and documents (a disc) with the participation of the victim Krasnov, dated April 6, 2026. In the video recording, Krasnov identifies himself and Yakutin as the police officer who used physical force against him;

– copies of Krasnov’s and Stepanov’s medical records; the record of the examination of Stepanov’s medical record, which shows that he sought medical help for an injury on December 12, 2025, with a diagnosis of a bruised left hand; the record of the examination of Krasnov’s medical record;

– the decision ordering a comprehensive psychological and psychiatric examination dated December 22, 2025; the expert opinion dated January 12, 2026, finding that Yakutin has no chronic or temporary mental disorders, dementia, or other mental illnesses, that he is capable of understanding the social danger of his actions and controlling them, and of understanding the nature and significance of the criminal proceedings, and that he “does not require compulsory medical measures”;

– the investigator’s decision dated February 14, 2026, ordering a forensic photo and video examination of the “disc containing the moment when Krasnov and Stepanov were injured by Yakutin”; the expert opinion dated March 19, 2026 (as far as could be heard through the background noise in the courtroom, the examination essentially consisted of enhancing the quality (visualization) of the video recording submitted);

– the decisions ordering forensic medical examinations dated December 25, 2025; the expert opinion on Stepanov dated January 13, 2026. When he sought medical help, no objective signs of bodily injury were found; the diagnosis of a closed head injury is not supported by any medical data and cannot be assessed in terms of the severity of harm to health;

– the expert opinion on Krasnov dated January 14, 2026. It established various injuries to the head, the left eye socket and eye, the chest, and the ribs. The injuries were caused by a blunt hard object, while the subdural hematoma may also have resulted from a combination of traumatic impacts to the head. It cannot be ruled out that they were caused by blows with hands and feet to the head and torso, “with feet in heavy footwear, to the head, face, and torso”, as stated in the decision and in the copy of the record of the victim’s examination. It is ruled out that all of the head injuries listed resulted from a single fall onto a flat hard surface. The date on which he sought medical help and the clinical and morphological picture of the injuries do not rule out that they were sustained at the time indicated in the decision. The head injuries are assessed as grave harm to health, and the chest injuries as moderate harm to health;

– the decision ordering an additional medical examination of Krasnov; the expert opinion dated April 2, 2026: “According to the conclusions, the decision and the materials submitted contain no specific information on the circumstances of Krasnov’s fall onto a flat surface, and it is therefore not possible to answer the question”;

– the service ID of Police Warrant Officer Yakutin; certificates of merit and a commendation awarded to Yakutin for the conscientious performance of his duties;

– Yakutin’s identity documents; a certificate confirming that he has no criminal record; a certificate confirming that he has no administrative offenses; certificates confirming that he is not registered with drug-treatment or psychiatric clinics;

– the decision of the Frunzensky District Court of St. Petersburg dated December 17, 2025, placing Yakutin under house arrest as a preventive measure;

– the conclusion of the internal investigation;

– the record of the investigator’s inspection of the scene dated December 19, 2025; the record of the on-site verification of testimony with the participation of Yakutin and his defense counsel dated March 26, 2026;

– the decision refusing to open criminal cases against Misikov under Paragraphs “a” and “c” of Part 3 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code, against Olenichenko and Stepanov under Articles 317, 318, and 319 of the Criminal Code, and against Krasnov under Articles 317 and 318 of the Criminal Code.

The state prosecutor asks for an adjournment to summon the witness Olenichenko again, and the court once more checks how he was notified. The court secretary reports that “numerous calls were made to the personal phone number given in the case file”, but the witness did not answer. Text messages sent via the GAS “Pravosudie” (State Automated System “Justice”) do not reach that number, and the witness also did not reply to text messages from the secretary’s personal phone.

The hearing is adjourned so that the prosecutor’s office can take its own measures to ensure the attendance of the remaining witness.