Former police officer M. Radin remains finally sentenced for abuse and minor health impairment

As reported by LAT, a criminal case was examined in court on Wednesday, in which former police officer M. Radin was convicted of abuse committed in excess of official authority and minor health impairment. According to the case, the abuse was manifested in the fact that Mr. Radin, as a police officer who arrived at the scene without a factual and legal basis, used physical violence against the ET who called the police and caused him a minor health disorder. In the case, the victim ET was awarded 3 thousand from the state. euros for compensation for non-pecuniary damage.

In this case, the cassation appeals were filed by the lawyer of the convicted M. Radin, the representative of the victim ET and the prosecutor. The defense attorney of the convicted former police officer asked to annul the conviction of the court of appeal and to uphold the acquittal of the court of first instance. The representative of the victim asked to increase the non-pecuniary damage compensation awarded to the victim ET to 30 thousand. euros, the prosecutor asked to award non-pecuniary damages directly from the convicted M. Radin, and not from the state.

LAT rejected all cassation appeals.

As LAT announced, the panel of judges that examined the case rejected the cassation appeal of the convicted M. Radin’s defense attorney on the grounds that the appellate court, by annulling the acquittal of the first instance court and accepting the guilty verdict, did not make any errors in the evaluation of the evidence and correctly applied the criminal law.

“The claims in the cassation appeal of the convicted defender that Mr. Radin used physical violence against ET because he resisted and posed a risk to Mr. Radin’s health are unfounded, as no circumstances were established in the case that would have required Mr. Radin to use physical violence against ET immediately “, LAT’s press release states.

Rejecting the cassation appeal of the ET representative of the victim, the panel of judges concluded that the amount of non-pecuniary damage awarded to the victim is not too low. According to the court of cassation, in this case, unlike in the cases of the European Court of Human Rights referred to by the victim’s representative, an effective pre-trial investigation was conducted regarding the behavior of the police officer M. Radin and a court verdict was passed, by which the former officer was convicted for the committed criminal acts.

“Furthermore, the panel of judges pointed out that the victim ET’s behavior during the incident was not impeccable, as he called the police officers without reason, and when they arrived, he communicated with them by inserting offensive swear words, etc.,” the court report states.

The panel of judges of the Court of Cassation, speaking on the cassation appeal of the prosecutor, noted that, according to the Code of Criminal Procedure, a civil lawsuit can be awarded also from the organizations materially responsible for the actions of the perpetrator, and therefore from the State of Lithuania.

As previously announced by the “Delfi” portal, according to the case data, the man recognized as the victim called the police to the house because he got into a conflict with acquaintances. When the police officers arrived to indicate the address, no one had any complaints, it was established that the officers were called unnecessarily.

When the police were checking the identity of the man who had called them, he answered the questions, but started cursing. The man also pointed out that M. Radin’s colleague was without a mask, even though the restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic were in force at the time and it was necessary to wear masks, he demanded that the officer put on a mask.

According to the case, while the officers were trying to calm the man down, he demanded that the policemen leave the house. Then, according to the data collected during the investigation, Mr. Radin pushed the owner of the apartment off the chair, pressed him to the floor and put handcuffs on him. The man was taken to the corridor of the house, where the officer allegedly punched him in the head, and he fell, hitting his face on the floor. Later, doctors found that the victim had suffered various injuries, which were treated as minor health problems.