Dagestani Supreme Court returns case against Zaur Gasanov, suspected IAF member, to Prosecutor's Office

The Supreme Court of Dagestan returned to the Prosecutor's Office a criminal case against Zaur Gasanov, a resident of Dagestan, who, according to investigators, was a member of an illegal armed formation (IAF), which acted in the city of Izberbash.

On July 30, the case against Zaur Gasanov was accepted to consideration by the Supreme Court of the republic. According to the Prosecutor's Office, in May 2011, Zaur Gasanov joined the IAF, which acted in the territory of Izberbash, and on August 5, 2011, he and Magomed Abdusalamov, another member of the IAF, shot to two police officers of the police station of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) in Izberbash, who died from the wounds.

At the court session, held on August 15, Murad Magomedov, the lawyer of the defendant Zaur Gasanov filed a motion to return the criminal case to the Prosecutor's Office in connection with the fact that the investigation had committed a number of violations of the criminal procedure legislation. This was reported by a statement of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

The Court granted the motion of the lawyer.

On September 1, 2011, Murad Gasanov, the defendant's father, filed to the HRC "Memorial" an appeal, in which he claimed that his son Zaur was illegally detained and tortured by power agents. Zaur Gasanov claimed that power agents tortured and beaten him in Stavropol, Makhachkala, and Izberbash to force him to confess to the murder of the police officers.