In Chechnya, SC upholds extension of Oyub Titiev's arrest
Today, the Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya has upheld the decision of the Staropromyslovsky District Court of Grozny to prolong the arrest of Oyub Titiev, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by Pyotr Zaikin, an advocate of Oyub Titiev.
Oyub Titiev, the head of the Grozny office of the HRC "Memorial", is under arrest since January 11 on charges of possessing marijuana. He stated that the drug was planted on him by a law enforcer, but investigators refused to initiate a criminal case on his application. The Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" recognized Titiev to be a political prisoner.
"The public prosecutor did not bring any arguments against our appeal. We drew the Court's attention to the fact that Russian presidential candidates [Ksenia] Sobchak and [Grigory] Yavlinsky lodged a motion in favour of Oyub Titiev, but investigators and the court failed to consider those motions, although they were to," said the advocate after the court hearing.
Pyotr Zaikin has specified he will be able to talk about further actions of the defence when he gets acquainted with the motivating part of the court's decision and will find out whether there is an opportunity to file yet another appeal.
According to the advocate, about 30 people were present at the courtroom. "The court hearing lasted just less than two hours. Journalists from Chechnya and Moscow attended the court hearing, as well as rights defenders from Grozny and from Moscow," Pyotr Zaikin explained. He has also added that during the today's court hearing, Oyub Titiev did not complain to him about his state of health and conditions of detention.
Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.
Source: CK correspondent