MOSCOW, October 11 (RAPSI, Lyudmila Klenko) – The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Russian authorities must pay €23,000 in moral damages to Leonid Petrov, a Russian man who was tied and thrown out of police building’s window, RAPSI learned from Petrov’s representative Aleksey Glukhov.

Petrov was arrested by the police in October of 2006 on suspicion of committing a crime and was transported to a police department in the city of Cheboksary. He claimed that drunken police officers attempted to force him to confess murder and theft while beating and threatening to rape him.

According to Petrov, police officers tied his hands with a 40-kilogram weight and continued to beat him. Then they made him stand on the window still and threatened to throw him out if he continues to refuse to self-incriminate himself. After he refused to do so, they threw him out.

After the incident Petrov suffered several cranial traumas and other injuries.

Cheboksary’s investigative authorities refused to launch a criminal case 24 times.

ECHR in its decision took into consideration numerous violations of proper police procedure. Petrov was arrested on October 6, but the date of the arrest was formally listed as October 10. In addition to other violations, Petrov was handcuffed in the hospital and was guarded.