The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is set to review a complaint regarding the remoteness of the prison where a former Russian police officer is serving a life sentence for a 2009 shooting spree, Interfax news agency reported Monday, citing the convict's lawyer.
Denis Yevsyukov, a former Moscow district police officer, opened fire at shoppers and cashiers in a supermarket in southeast Moscow in the early hours of April 27, 2009, killing two people and injuring seven others, media reported at the time. Surveillance footage showed Yevsyukov prowling the aisles of the supermarket and firing shots at people he encountered.
Reportedly drunk at the time of the incident, Yevsyukov was sentenced to life in prison in 2010 after having been found guilty of 22 counts of attempted murder.
The former police chief is currently being held at the "Snowy Owl" prison colony in Kharp, a town in the barren Yamalo-Nenets autonomous district, located some 1,900 kilometers northeast of Moscow.
Yevsyukov's parents have complained that the remoteness of their son's detention facility violates the right to inviolability of family life, the ECHR told RIA Novosti state news agency.
"The transportation and movement [of convicts] around the country is one of the most actively and uncontrollably used methods to pressure them," Interfax cited Irina Khrunova, Yevsyukov's lawyer, as saying. "Judging by recent the review of collective complaints, the ECHR has decided to demand that this policy be changed."
Khrunova added that she believed complaint was founded and that the ECHR would likely rule in her client's favor, Interfax reported.
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