Ingush woman complains about persecution of her family by law enforcers

A woman-resident of Nazran claims that because of the hostile attitude of their relatives, serving in the power agencies of the republic, her family lost their house and her son was tortured, beaten and convicted on fabricated criminal case.

Leila Kholukhoeva: conflict between relatives arose in 2007

Leila Kholukhoeva, who lives in the Nasir-Kort Municipal District of the city of Nazran, claims that the initiator of the prosecution of her family was Khasan Kholukhoev, her husband's cousin and neighbour.

"In 2007, Khasan Kholukhoev called my son Ibragim a Wahhabi and began insulting and humiliating him in every way, and set his sons against my son. However, my son has never been a Wahhabi, or a terrorist, or a bandit. He has never been brought to criminal liability, and he was not involved in any crimes," Leila Kholukhoeva told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to her, in the same year, Khasan Kholukhoev even tried to inflict an injury on Ibragim he hit him with a shovel. "Since that time, our family cannot live in peace, and we face a systematic persecution from the Khasan Kholukhoev's sons Mussa, Rustam, and Amir," the woman says.

According to Leila Kholukhoeva, later, the conflict involved numerous staff members and management of the GOVD (Interior Department) of Nazran and the ROVD (District Interior Division) of Malgobek. According to the woman, the Kholukhoev family has taken the advantage of their acquaintances and service capabilities, since Mussa Kholukhoev is the former staff member of the Ingushetia's MIA, and Rustam is a Warrant Officer, the member of the Department of the FSB of the Russian Federation in Ingushetia.

According to the woman, on August 25, 2010, her son Ibragim was detained by officers from the Nazran GOVD on suspicion of an attempt to explode a shop, owned by Amir Kholukhoev, which was committed on August 21, 2010.

"At that time, they allegedly found in the shop a bomb that never detonated. We believe that the sons of Khasan Kholukhoev planted the bomb themselves to detain my son, and that is clear from the further course of actions in that terrible story. However, on that fact forged by them, a criminal case against my son was framed up," the woman says.

Ibragim Kholukhoev was tortured by power agents, his mother asserts

According to the mother of Ibragim Kholukhoev, from the moment of his detention, during 2011, he was constantly tortured and beaten. According to Leila Kholukhoeva, Ibragim Kholukhoev was tortured by officers from the Nazran GOVD and Malgobek ROVD.

"When the case against my son was carried out by the young woman Sakhar Sautieva, the investigator from the Nazran GOVD, my son was tortured under her orders. She demanded that Ibragim should sign a confession to the fact that he tried to blow up the shop. When he refused to sign, she left the room and called investigators, who began to severely beat my son. Then, in desperation, Ibragim cut his veins and his abdominal cavity. My son was beaten and tortured with electric current. They knew that he had kidney decease and hit him to his kidneys," the mother of Ibragim Kholukhoev stated in her interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to Leila Kholukhoeva, her son was also subjected to torture and beatings at the Malgobek ROVD, where Mukhazhir Evloev, Chief of the ROVD, supervised the process of torture and personally participated in it.

"After Mukhazhir Evloev, Chief of the Malgobek ROVD, hit my son to his head, my son got a burst of his ear membrane. Later, because of that injury, my son got a fungus in the damaged ear. When they tortured my son, they kept saying that he would not be able to come out alive. During all the time spent in the custody, he was not provided with necessary medical care," Leila Kholukhoeva states.

According to the mother of Ibragim Kholukhoev, torture of her son was stopped, when the Malgobek ROVD was visited by Djambulat Ozdoev, Ombudsman in Ingushetia.

According to Leila Kholukhoeva, one of the GOVD investigators, who considered the criminal case, was also beaten after he started the objective investigation into the case. After that, the case was transferred to another GOVD officer. At the same time, the beaten investigator was subjected to pressure by the management of the different departmental offices of Ingushetia's MIA, the woman emphasized.

Leila Kholukhoeva intends to demand cancellation of her son's sentence

The investigation of the criminal case against Ibragim Kholukhoev has been completed. The case was considered by the Magas District Court, which on July 14, 2011, found Ibragim Kholukhoev guilty of trying to explode the shop owned by Amir Kholukhoev.

Ibragim Kholukhoev was sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment. The charge is based only on the testimony of the victim in the case, Leila Kholukhoeva stresses. According to her, her son's non-involvement in explosion of the shop is confirmed the video record from the camera, located at the courtyard of the shop owned by Amir Kholukhoev. According to the woman, the record clearly shows that it was not her son, and that fact was confirmed by independent experts from Moscow.

"The court is also against us. Khamid Tambiev, Judge of the Magas District Court, who considered the case, is a close friend of Mussa Kholukhoev, and that fact can be easily revealed by the investigation. Despite that, he was not removed from the case. Khamid Tambiev did not hide and stated that he allegedly had an instruction from the FSB to sentence my son. However, we appealed to the FSB, and we were told that my son was not registered in their documents," Leila Kholukhoeva says.

According to her, Khamid Tambiev conducted the judicial investigation unilaterally and openly supported the victim: "Tambiev considered the case cynically and brazenly, openly slept at the court sessions, and that fact was even recorded by the court secretary, who was later dismissed for that. Besides, the Judge was extorting from us 10,000 US dollars for a shorter period of imprisonment of my son."

Let us note that the Supreme Court of Ingushetia has approved the decision the Magas District Court and sentenced Ibragim Kholukhoev to 7 years of imprisonment, having dismissed the defence's appeal.

According to the mother of Ibragim Kholukhoev, the case against her son is also to be considered by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

At present, Ibragim Kholukhoev is kept at the SIZO (pre-trial prison) of Karabulak.

According to Leila Kholukhoeva, her house was blown up three times

According to Leila Kholukhoeva, in May 2011, unidentified persons blew up her house three times. As a result of the latest explosion, committed on September 2, 2011, the house was completely destroyed and could not be restored.

"We called officers from the MIA and FSB and filed complaints to the law enforcement agencies; however, they made no steps to identify the attackers," the woman says.

"Mussa Kholukhoev himself does not even hide that he blew up our house. We learned that he told about that to numerous staff members of the Nazran GOVD. At the same time, he claimed that he committed that in response to our attacks on their house," Leila Kholukhoeva said.

Djambulat Ozdoev: no information about investigation into bombings of the Kholukhoev's house is available

Djambulat Ozdoev, Ombudsman in Ingushetia, who was contacted by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent for comments on the statements of Leila Kholukhoeva, stated that after his detention Ibragim voluntarily hand out a submachine gun.

"As far as I know, he has confessed of illegal possession of weapons," Djambulat Ozdoev said.

He has confirmed the statements of Leila Kholukhoeva, that, yet being kept at the SIZO, Ibragim cut his veins in protest.

"I was contacted by the mother. It was a protest against the charges of some attacks, which he did not commit. In that regard, we appealed to the prosecutor's office and the Department of the FSB. Later, we met, and Ibragim said that the pressure on him was stopped," the Ombudsman said.

Furthermore, according to Djambulat Ozdoev, he received complaints from Ibragim's relatives. "They are subjected to pressure they received threats by phone. According to the mother of Ibragim Kholukhoev, the threats were voiced by the MIA's officers, who wanted to charge Ibragim of the crime," Djambulat Ozdoev stated.

He has also reported that after the trial, several explosions were committed near the house of the Ibragim Kholukhoev's mother. "One explosion destroyed a half of the house. On those facts, the criminal cases were instituted. And the guilty person is not known. We are told that the investigation is underway and nothing else," Djambulat Ozdoev stated.

Akhmed Kotiev, Secretary of the Security Council of Ingushetia, stated that the sentence of Ibragim Kholukhoev was fair. "He was found guilty, but still not for all charges, so, he was lucky. I believe that he should have been sentenced to life imprisonment. In short, that woman is a bad person," Akhmed Kotiev stated in his interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The Secretary of the Security Council assured that the Ingushetian power agents did not abuse their powers and that they did not beat anyone.

The "Caucasian Knot" failed to get the comments from the Ingushetian MIA the officials said that "they had nothing to comment on."