In Dagestan, prosecution witnesses speak at trial in case of teenager's beating

Today, the Shamil District Court of Dagestan listened to prosecution witnesses in the case against policeman Magomed Magomedov, who is suspected of beating of a 14-year-old teenager.

According to the prosecution witnesses, they saw signs of beatings on the teenager's body. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Sirazhudin Datsiev, a staff member of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

"One of the prosecution witnesses, who saw the boy was beaten at the ROVD (District Interior Division), failed to appear at the court, when the case was under consideration for the first time. He recanted his testimony, although they are in written form. If he fails to appear at the next court session, his written testimony will be read out," said Sirazhudin Datsiev.

According to the boy's relatives, he got deaf in one ear. "Although he tells us nothing, we see that he's got constant headaches, he became nervous, and he got deaf in one ear. And, according to doctors, the sense of hearing is unlikely to recover," said one of the teenager's relatives.

The next court session is scheduled for May 18, and it will listen to testimonies of the remaining witnesses.