Court interrogates Adam Khamkhoev on torture applied by policemen

The Karabulak Court of Ingushetia held a court session on the case against Nazir Guliev and Ilyas Nalgiev, ex-officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Ingushetia, accused of torturing detainees, and questioned the victim Adam Khamkhoev.

The "Caucasian Knot" reported that Adam Khamkhoev, a resident of Ingushetia, had been kidnapped on December 30, 2010, together with two other young men - the brothers named Pliev. On January 3, Adam Khamkhoev had been released, then, Musa Khamkhoev, his father, appealed to the prosecutor's office, claiming that the power agents tortured his son.

The consideration of the criminal case against Nalgiev and Guliev was started on September 12. The complainant Zelimkhan Chigitov, who now resides in Norway for safety reasons, was the first person who publicly spoke about the torture that he had, according to his story, was suffered from the defendants.

Zelimkhan Chitigov was detained at a bus stop in April 2010 in the course of the investigation into the explosion at the town of Karabulak. Later, his relatives reported that he had been brutally beaten.

"At first, they put on a plastic bag on my head and they were strangling me; they tortured me with electric current, then removed my clothes, poured water and strangled me again. I was not the only person beaten by them. There, they commit violence and murders every. I personally witnessed that," stated Zelimkhan Chitigov on October 20 in a live programme of the "PIK" TV Channel.

Despite the Chitigov's statement, the defendants in the case are still under the recognizance not to leave. The court dismissed the motion for changing the pre-trial restriction. This was reported today by Abu-Bakar Tsechoev, the activist from the Human Rights Centre "Memorial", to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"The situation is not clear yet; it is only the beginning of the process. Several witnesses were interrogated. Zelimkhan Chitigov has not been questioned yet, since he is in Europe now; however, his parents have been interrogated. Many of the witnesses changed their testimonies which they had given at the preliminary investigation of this case," Abu-Bakar Tsechoev has noted.

Nelly Khasanova, the representative of Sheikh-Mukhammed Chitigov, the father of Zelimkhan Chitigov, reported that, residing in Norway, Zelimkhan Chitigov had been granted a refugee status without leaving permission; thus, he is not able to come to Russia, since if he leaves Norway, then he will lose his refugee status.

"We filed a motion to the court to interrogate Chitigov via Skype with the help of the Internet. This issue is to be considered by Moscow officials," said Nelly Khasanova.

The court session on the case is appointed for October 28. Nazir Guliev and Ilyas Nalgiev, former MIA's officers, plead themselves not guilty.

Yunus-Bek Evkurov, the leader of Ingushetia, took the case under his personal control. He believes that the law enforcement officers cannot be justified, but can be understood.

"How many combat friends did they lose? Psychologically, a man is not a robot: a chip cannot be put in or pulled out of his brain. I see that, and I watch that. Thus, it is difficult to determine the boundary of the excessive use of force," Yunus-Bek Evkurov explained his opinion.

Let u note that the defendant Nazir Guliev is the brother-in-law of Uvais, the Yunus-Bek Evkurov's , brother, who is the head of the guard service of the republic's leader.