Svetlana Gannushkina: case against Chechen native Zara Murtazalieva falsified

Criminal proceedings against Zara Murtazalieva, a native of Chechnya, were unlawful, and the court pronounced an unfair decision. This was stated on September 13 by Svetlana Gannushkina, Chair of the Committee "Civil Assistance", during the press conference "Fabrication of criminal charges. Yesterday, today, tomorrow". The experts, participating in the event, apart from the situation with Zara Murtazalieva, mentioned several more examples of, according to them, fabricated criminal cases.

The press conference on the theme "Fabrication of criminal charges. Yesterday, today and tomorrow", held at the Independent Press Centre in Moscow, began with a 15-minute delay. There were a lot of journalists in the Centre, and those reporters, who came late, had to work standing up and holding laptops in their hands.

During the press conference, the speeches were delivered by Svetlana Gannushkina, Chair of the Committee "Civil Assistance", Anastasia Denisova, the coordinator of the project "Protection of Rights of Labour Immigrants", lawyers Abu Gaitaev and Rosa Magomedova.

"Lonely Chechen female immediately attracted attention of intelligence agents"

On September 3, Zara Murtazalieva was released, and at present, she is in Chechnya.

"Zara Murtazalieva is a Chechen female, who so often becomes victims of criminal actions of investigators, who fabricate criminal cases. I would like to pay your attention to the case against Zara, since no one, who is familiar with the case prosecutor, judge, investigator, and lawyer did not believe that she was preparing a terror act," Svetlana Gannushkina stated.

According to Svetlana Gannushkina, a single Chechen female, who came to Moscow, immediately attracted the attention of secret service agents. The young woman was under surveillance, and listening devices were installed in her room, which she rented. However, Zara Murtazalieva gave no reasons to treat her as a potential suicide bomber. As a result, according to Svetlana Gannushkina, by the "fake" evidence and witnesses, Zara Murtazalieva was found guilty of preparing a terror act in the trade mall "Okhotny Ryad".

"Allocation of large amount of money needed to be justified"

According to Svetlana Gannushkina, law enforcement agents did not dare to recognize their own mistake, and a large amount of money was allocated for the listening equipment, which had to be justified.

"They did not reveal anything during the month of surveillance. My informant has told me that in a conversation with him, one of the law enforcement agents said: 'We have spent such a large amount of money, that we could not fail to justify it.' That is, they believed that impossible to report on the mistake," Svetlana Gannushkina has noted.

Svetlana Gannushkina called the case against Zara Murtazalieva a step towards "total collapse of the system or to establishment of a system when any person could be brought to a dock, if needed."

"Prosecutor's office and court connected professionally, psychologically, and corporate"

Anastasia Denisova, the coordinator of the project "Protection of Rights of Labour Immigrants", mentioned the problem of planting drugs to labour immigrants from Tajikistan in the course of the operation "Illegal Immigrant", often held in Moscow and the Moscow Region.

Anastasia Denisova spoke of the story of three immigrants, which occurred in September 2011. According to the human rights activists, police officers planted drugs to them, and each of the immigrants was sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment.

"Their names are Zainura Murodova, her brother Murodbek Murodov, and her husband Amrikhudo Toshov. A brother of Murodov appealed to us for help. He said that drugs were planted to his relatives. One more persons came and said that the police officers extorted money 250,000 roubles. They managed to raise only 130,000 roubles; however, no one was released," Anastasia Denisova said.

According to the human rights activist, then, the investigation was conducted "with gross violations." As a result, all three immigrants were convicted under "drug" Article 228 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. "When arrested, Zainura Murodova was six months pregnant; she has given birth in SIZO (pre-trial prison), and she her baby with breast at the court sessions behind the bars. She was sentenced to 3 years of imprisonment with a grace period of 14 years, until the child reaches adulthood, and I treat that as our little victory," Anastasia Denisova stated.

Journalists from the audience have asked how people, who are law enforcement agents, feed cruelty in themselves. "I will quote Dmitry Medvedev: prosecutor's office and court are connected professionally, psychologically, and corporately," Svetlana Gannushkina answered to that question.

"Malkho Bisultanov is prosecuted in case, where he was witness"

In her speech, the lawyer Rosa Magomedova spoke of the criminal case, instituted against Malkho Bisultanov.

On November 25, 2011, Malkho Bisultanov was detained in the territory of the film studio "Mosfilm", where he came to take part in a movie at the invitation through a social network. At the OVD (Interior Division), Malkho Bisultanov was explained that he was detained as a witness in a criminal case against Timirgiraeva and Mandaraeva, charged of extortion. On January 20, Malkho Bisultanov was charged of attempting to sell narcotic substances on a large scale. The punishment for the crime involves 8-20 years of imprisonment.

"The process against Malkho Bisultanov, a witness in the case of extortion, is being started. Let us remind you that law enforcement agents planted to Malkho Bisultanov 39 grams of amphetamine, when they invited him through the social network on the Internet to take part in the movies at the "Mosfilm". The man was detained on November 25, 2011. We wrote letters to Bastrykin and to the General Prosecutor's Office and asked to bring law enforcement agents to responsibility; however, we were refused in instituting a criminal case even on the fact and not against anyone. Moreover, on May 15, 2012, the man was brought to criminal responsibility in the case, where he was a witness," the lawyer began her story.

On August 22, Rosa Magomedova received a letter from the Nikulino Court that the case was brought to the Kuntsevo Court. "The materials were returned to the pre-investigation check, and therefore, there is a hope that we will be able to fight off the charges," Rosa Magomedova believes.

The lawyer argues that her client is an "honorary donor", and two days prior to his detention he donated blood, and that proves that Malkho Bisultanov does not take drugs, the lawyer said.

"In the SIZO, Malkho Bisultanov met a man, who told him that he had been sentenced by exactly the same scenario the same 39 grams and the same package," Rosa Magomedova has emphasized.

"Participation of lawyers in process becomes nominal"

During the press conference, the lawyer Abu Gaitaev has expressed his opinion that unlawful criminal proceedings became widespread.

"In modern Russia, the work of lawyers is devalued. Involvement of the lawyers in the process becomes nominal. When there is no access to a fair trial, the company has no future. It is doomed," Abu Gaitaev.

In his speech, the lawyer mentioned the case against Ramzan Shaikhaev, a native of Dagestan as an example.

"In Khimki, an incident occurred, when, during a robbery on commercial facilities, 5 persons were killed. In the course of investigation, 4 persons, natives of Dagestan, were detained, including Ramzan Shaikhaev. The house of the latter was stormed, and a shotgun was planted to him. I say 'planted', since he is a devout and large person, the FSB agents followed him and they would not let him keep weapons at home," Abu Gaitaev said.

The investigators tried to establish involvement of Ramzan Shaikhaev in the robbery, committed in Khimki; however, they found no evidence. As a result, he was charged under Article 162 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. According to the lawyer, motives of the prosecution against Ramzan Shaikhaev remain unclear.

Svetlana Gannushkina has summed up the press conference that the arbitrariness of power agents should be eliminated entirely in accordance with the law.