MOSCOW, October 26 (RAPSI) – A resident of the Republic of Tatarstan lodged an application with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) complaining that a police officer, who had used force against him, received too lenient sentence, lawyer Igor Sholokhov told RAPSI on Thursday.

Moreover, the applicant insisted that he had been awarded small compensation for moral injury.

A complaint against “too lenient sentence and paltry compensation for tortures by police” has been filed for the first time in our practice, the lawyer said. The applicant in his application claims that Russian authorities have violated Article 3 (prohibition of tortures) of the European Convention on Human Rights, Sholokhov added.

A court in Tatarstan has found that police officer Aidar Salmanov had a talk with a suspect in theft, who pleaded not guilty, on February 8, 2016. The arrested man was given 21 electric shocks that caused damage to his health. The police officer pleaded not guilty in court and insisted that the victim could maim himself and then apply to a hospital.

In October 2016, Salmanov received a 5-year suspended sentence and was prohibited from working in law enforcement agencies for the same period. The republic’s Supreme Court has upheld this ruling.

Later, the applicant won a 70,000-ruble compensation ($1,200) in this case.