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.
During the closing arguments, the prosecution reclassified the charges under Paragraph “a” of Part 3 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code (exceeding official powers with the use of violence) and Part 1 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code (intentional infliction of grave bodily harm).
The case is being heard by the Frunzensky district court of St. Petersburg, with Judge Roman Aleksandrovich Chebotarev presiding.
Present are the defendant, Yakutin, his defense counsel (lawyer Palshkov), a representative of the prosecutor’s office (whose name is not given), and the representative of the victim Krasnov, lawyer Gerasimov. Two police escort officers arrived in advance in case Yakutin was taken into custody, and 6 of the defendant’s relatives attended as members of the public.
The court reads out the introductory and operative parts of the verdict.
Yakutin is found guilty and sentenced as follows: under Paragraph “a” of Part 3 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code, 3 years’ imprisonment and a 2-year ban on holding positions in Russian law enforcement bodies involving the functions of a representative of authority; under Part 1 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code, 1 year and 6 months’ imprisonment.
The final sentence is 3 years and 6 months in a general-regime penal colony and a 2-year ban on holding positions in Russian law enforcement bodies involving the functions of a representative of authority.
The preventive measure of house arrest is revoked, and Yakutin is to be taken into custody in the courtroom.
Despite the sentence of actual imprisonment and the change of the preventive measure to detention in a SIZO (pre-trial detention facility), Yakutin was not taken into custody immediately. For about 10 minutes he continued to move freely around the courtroom and the corridor, talking with his wife and relatives. The formal procedures took some more time; then one of the defendant’s wrists was handcuffed to a police officer’s, and he was led away by an escort of two police officers.
