Police in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan have been accused of extrajudicial violence, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.
A woman from the Bashkir city of Birsk today contacted the Committee Against Torture's office in Ufa, the republican capital, to report that her 22-year-old son Dmitry is in the hospital after being severely beaten by police.
She said police detained her son on February 10 near his home and took him to the police station. He was placed in the cell for intoxicated people. During this time she says her son was viciously beaten and his spine was fractured.
Dmitry said he does not drink alcohol and was not drunk.
Rustem Abdrakhmanov, an investigator for the Committee Against Torture in Ufa, told RFE/RL that Dmitry is in a neurosurgery ward. He confirmed that Dmitry's upper spine is broken.
Abdrakhmanov said he had met with Dmitry, whose condition is "grounds for concern."
Human rights activists have filed a lawsuit against the Birsk police and hope an investigation into the incident will be made.