Titiev's defence points to predictability of court judgments

The outcome of considering the defence's complaints on the extension of Oyub Titiev's arrest, and about the refusal to initiate a case on the drugs planted on him, is known in advance, the advocate and colleagues of the rights defender have stated. In their opinion, the prosecutor did not even find it necessary to get ready for the trial; while the court ignored the defence's convincing arguments.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Oyub Titiev was arrested on January 11 on charges of possessing marijuana.

Today, the Supreme Court of Chechnya has begun considering the complaint against the decision of the court of Grozny, which had found the refusal to initiate a criminal case against the law enforcer, who, according to Titiev, planted the drug on him, lawful.

"The prosecutor has confessed that he came to the trial unprepared. He said that he had not even read our complaints," said Pyotr Zaikin, one of Titiev's advocates.

The outcomes of considering the complaints are predictable, said Tatiana Lokshina, the head of the Moscow bureau of the international Human Right Watch.

She is sure that the statements of the US and European authorities on Titiev's case cannot be treated as an attempt to influence the court. She treats these statements as "indignation over the fabrication of the case against Titiev, and over the attempts to squeeze the Human Rights Centre (HRC) 'Memorial' out of Chechnya.