In Grozny, Chairman of "Committee Against Torture" questioned

In Grozny, a representative of the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) in the South Federal District (SFD) interrogated Igor Kalyapin, Chairman of the Interregional Public Organization "Committee Against Torture" (ICAT). This was reported by human rights defenders. The activists of the Committee believe that power agents try to institute criminal proceedings against Igor Kalyapin.

Staff members of the Committee's press service have been reported on his interrogation in Grozny by Igor Kalyapin himself, who is the Chechen capital as a member of the consolidated mobile group of Russian human rights organizations.

Prosecution is initiated by FSB Department in Nizhny Novgorod Region

On Saturday, July 7, Igor Kalyapin was interrogated by the investigator of the Special Division of the Chief Investigatory Department of the ICRF in the SFD.

"The initiator of the criminal prosecution is the FSB Department in Nizhny Novgorod Region; earlier, representatives of the Chechen power agencies, presumably responsible for committing serious crimes and their concealment, have twice tried to institute criminal proceedings against the human rights defender," the website of the Russian non-commercial organization "Committee Against Torture" reports.

The staff members of the "Committee Against Torture" suggested that the reason for beginning of pre-investigation verification was a report of R. Ryabkov, the investigator of the FSB Department in Nizhny Novgorod Region, who found in a number of media publications the elements of crime under Article 310 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation disclosure of information of the preliminary investigation.

According to Oksana Chelysheva, the head of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society, during the interrogation, the investigator Ryabkov tried to learn from Igor Kalyapin the information about all staff members of the "Committee Against Torture".

"They demand to provide them with the list of all staff members of the Committee, who worked in Chechnya in 2011, with their phone numbers and addresses of their residence, including those staff members, who have resigned," Oksana Chelysheva wrote on her page in the Facebook.

Igor Kalyapin himself insists that he did not disclose any materials of the criminal case and that he attracted the attention of the media and the public to flagrant facts of the refusal of government officials to investigate crimes in Chechnya, the press service of the organization reports.

In the statement, posted of the website of the organization, the staff members of the "Committee Against Torture" emphasize that they faced with a systematic campaign of pressure, inspired in Chechnya by top-ranking officials.

Amnesty International: this is third attempt institute criminal case against Igor Kalyapin

In its turn, the international human rights organization "Amnesty International" (AI) expressed its concern over "repeated attempts of the authorities to institute criminal proceedings against Igor Kalyapin."

"This is the third attempt of the authorities to institute criminal proceedings against Igor Kalyapin under the same pretext. Earlier attempts were unsuccessful, since investigators, having examined the charges, filed against him, failed to find any element of crime in his actions. The "Committee Against Torture" claims increasing pressure of authorities on its staff members," the AI's official website reports.