26 October 2016, 13:00
SC agrees to cancel court ruling against advocates of Nikolai Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh
Despite the objection of public prosecutor, the Russian Supreme Court (SC) has agreed with the arguments of defenders of Ukrainian citizens Nikolai Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh against special court ruling pronounced by the Supreme Court (SC) of the ChechenRepublic on violations of the law by advocates Dubrovina and Itslaev.
The criminal case against Stanislav Klykh and Nikolai Karpyuk was considered by the Supreme Court (SC) of the ChechenRepublic starting from October 27, 2015, and involved a jury. The jurors unanimously found both defendants guilty, and pronounced that Stanislav Klykh deserved leniency. Nikolai Karpyuk was sentenced to 22 years and 6 months of imprisonment, and Stanislav Klykh to 20 years of imprisonment.
According to investigators, on December 31, 1994, Karpyuk and Klykh, being members of the UNA-UNSO organization (banned in Russia), took part in warfare in Grozny and killed at least 30 Russian servicemen.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 27, Judge of the Supreme Court (SC) of the Chechen Republic pronounced special court ruling against advocates Marina Dubrovina and Dokka Itslaev. According to Judge Vakhit Ismailov, Dubrovina did not appear at the court hearing without excuses, and Itslaev "behaved improperly," "commented on the Judge's actions in an unacceptable form," and "failed to respond to reprimands."
The defenders asked to cancel the special court ruling pronounced by the Chechen SC, since, according to them, it failed to reflect reality. Nikolai Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh have stated in court that they "utterly and completely" support their advocates' decision.
The public prosecutor opposed the cancellation of the special court ruling; however, the court decided to grant the request.
The human rights organization "Civil Rights Defenders" treated the special court ruling pronounced by the Chechen Supreme Court against Dubrovina and Itslaev as pressure to punish them for their activities for protection of human rights. The human rights defenders called on the Russian authorities to immediately stop the prosecution of the advocates.
Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.
Author: Oleg Krasnov Source: CK correspondent
