Employee of the Chechen Ombudsman's office detained for bribery attempt in Novosibirsk Region

Said Yashuev, an employee of the office of the Ombudsman in the Chechen Republic, is accused of an attempt to bribe an officer of the UFSIN (Federal Administration for Punishment Enforcement) for the Novosibirsk Region. Friends and colleagues of the detainee believe that his detention was a provocation.

"Under the order of Nurdi Nukhazhiev, Ombudsman in the Chechen Republic, advocates have been sent to Novosibirsk. Like Yashuev's colleagues and close relatives, I'm convinced that Said Yashuev was just set up," a source from Mr Yashuev's retinue said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"We know perfectly well how personnel of corrective establishments in different regions of Russia treat not only convicted Chechens, but also their relatives who come to meet their relatives," the source said. "And I very much doubt that Said really wanted to transfer his son to another colony for a bribe. He's not the one of that sort."

Chechen Ombudsman Nurdi Nukhazhiev has also resolutely condemned Yashuev's detention and named it "a provocation of special agencies." "Colony workers have decided to imprison Said Yashuev only because he is a Chechen, although they're ready to break all the regulations for a bribe," the Ombudsman said in his interview to the "Kommersant".

Besides, he has also expressed his doubt that Said Yashuev's son - Tamerlan Yashuev, 26, who is serving his 13-year term for participation in illegal armed formations at a colony in the Novosibirsk Region, had been really involved in incriminated crimes. "In those years, young Chechens were sentenced to long terms on charges of involvement in illegal armed formations in many respects because they could not make use of professional advocates," Mr Nukhazhiev has noted.