5.  The applicant was born in 1956 and lives in Voronezh. 6.  On 7 March 2008 the applicant was arrested and brought to the Tsentralniy district police station, Voronezh (Отдел внутренних дел Центрального района г. Воронежа, “the Tsentralniy OVD”) for having employed offensive language in public. He submitted that after the interview the policemen had ill-treated him. In particular, they had handcuffed his hands behind his back, lifted the handcuffs so that he could only stand on his toes, attached the handcuffs to metal bars and administered several blows to the applicant’s face and chest. A few hours later, the applicant was released. 7.  On 8 March 2008 the applicant paid a visit to Voronezh Town Clinical Hospital no. 2 (“the town hospital”). A bruise on the left side of his chest was noted during the examination carried out by a doctor there. 8.  On 10 March 2008 the applicant was examined by the Voronezh regional forensic bureau which in addition detected bruises on the applicant’s right eye and right wrist, and scratches on the left of his forehead and both wrists, inflicted by a blunt hard object. The report reflected the timing of these injuries as “one to three days prior”, “possibly 7 March 2008, as argued by [the applicant]”. It further concluded that the injuries in question did not entail any permanent damage to health or disability. 9.  On 11 March 2008 the applicant visited local polyclinic no. 4, which diagnosed him as having developed periarthritis as a result of trauma of the wrist joints. 10.  On 19 March 2008 the applicant lodged an application with the Tsentralniy district investigation department of the investigative committee at the Voronezh regional prosecutor’s office (Следственный отдел по Центральному району г. Воронежа Cледственного управления Следственного комитета при прокуратуре Российской Федерации по Воронежской области, “the district investigation department”) requesting that criminal proceedings be instituted against the police officers who had ill-treated him at the Tsentralniy OVD on 7 March 2008. 11.  On 23 March 2008 an investigator of the district investigation department rejected the applicant’s request as unfounded for lack evidence of a crime. 12.  On 24 April 2008 the above decision was set aside by the deputy head of the district investigation department as unfounded, and the case file material was referred for an additional pre-investigation inquiry. 13.  Thereafter the applicant’s request was repeatedly rejected and re‑examined. The respective decisions to reject the request were taken by the investigator of the district investigation department on 1 October, 5 November, 11 December 2008 and 13 August 2009 on the basis of:
-  the applicant’s statements;
-  the forensic medical report of 10 March 2008 (see paragraph 8 above) and the additional forensic medical report of 1 October 2008, which confirmed the conclusions of the initial report;
-  the statements of Mr P.M., the applicant’s father, who submitted that on 7 March 2008 at about 9.30 p.m. the applicant’s friends had brought his son from the Tsentralniy OVD, that the applicant had had bruises and had been in shock and had told him that he had been subjected to ill-treatment by the police;
-  the statements of Ms T.D., a friend of the applicant, who submitted that she had picked the applicant up from the Tsentralniy OVD on 7 March 2008 at about 10 p.m., that the applicant had had no visible injuries and told her that the police officers had ill-treated him by forcing him into a stress position known as “the swallow” (ласточка);
-  the statements of Ms A.M., the applicant’s wife, who submitted that the applicant had arrived home on 7 March 2008 at approximately 11.55 p.m., that he had had abrasions on his wrists and a black eye, and that he had told her that the police had beaten him up, handcuffed his hands behind his back and suspended him from a metal bar by handcuffs;
-  the statements of Ms Z.K, the applicant’s mother-in-law, who submitted that she had picked up the applicant’s belongings at the Tsentralniy OVD on 7 March 2008 and had not seen the applicant committing any unlawful acts or police officers applying physical force to the applicant;
-  the report by police officer V.V., who submitted that on 7 March 2008 at about 6.10 p.m. he and police officer S.S. had apprehended the applicant for having employed offensive language in public;
-  the statements of officers V.V. and S.S. who denied having applied physical force to the applicant;
-  the statements of police officer P.A., who submitted that on 7 March 2008 at about 7.00 p.m. the applicant was brought to the Tsentralniy OVD; he had had no visible injuries and had been behaving calmly, and no physical force or measures of restraint had been applied to him;
-  the statements of police officers S.Sh. and M.V., who had been on duty on 7 March 2008, who submitted that they had had no information about the applicant’s arrest, and that they had not seen physical force or measures of restraint being applied to any of the persons brought to the Tsentralniy OVD on that date;
-  the statements of several persons who had been detained at the Tsentralniy OVD at the same time as the applicant, who submitted that they had not seen or heard that any unlawful measures had been applied to the applicant by the police officers. 14.  All of the above decisions refusing the institution of criminal proceedings against the police officers were subsequently set aside by the deputy head of the district investigation department as unfounded, and an additional pre-investigation inquiry was ordered. 15.  On 19 May and 28 October 2008, and 10 August 2009 the Tsentralniy District Court, Voronezh, discontinued the proceedings by which the applicant sought to challenge the lawfulness of the decisions of 23 March, 1 October and 11 December 2008 respectively, refusing to open a criminal case against the police officers as in the meantime the above decisions had been set aside. 16.  After the application was communicated to the Russian Government, on 23 March 2011 the district investigation department instituted criminal proceedings under Article 286 § 3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. 17.  On an unspecified date in the end of March 2011 the applicant was questioned as a victim. 18.  On an unspecified date in April 2011 the investigator appointed a doctor to carry out a forensic medical examination. 19.  On 6 June 2011 the applicant participated in an onsite verification of his statements and in an identity parade of the police officers. Police officers V.V. and S.P. of the Tsentralniy OVD were presented for identification; however, none were recognised by the applicant. 20.  On 25 July 2011 the investigation was suspended on the grounds that it was impossible to identify the alleged perpetrators.