In Dagestan, two witnesses questioned in case on policemen beating teenager

On October 11, at the village of Khebda of the Shamil District of Dagestan, the trial of two police officers, accused of beating a 14-year-old Makhmud Akhmedov, was continued. The court listened to two witnesses.

"On October 11, the court first invited to the courtroom Bagavdin Magomedov, a former staff member of the district hospital. The defendant's lawyer has asked him a question about the teenager's hearing and noted that the teenager's parents believe that his left ear became deaf after the teenager was beaten by the policemen. The witness said that long prior to the incident with the policemen at the OVD (Interior Division), the teenager's parents consulted him concerning his hearing," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by a source at the District Court.

According to him, the witness said that the boy had already been deaf, "at that moment, the mother of the victim began to cry that it was not true, and the father of the teenager rushed to the witness; however, police officers managed to catch him."

"The woman had a stroke, and the judge declared a break for an hour," the source has stated.

After the break, the court questioned witness Musa Musaev, who on the day of delivery of the teenager to the OVD at the police building.

According to the witness, he was brought to the OVD on the same day as the teenager was, and, for a while, he was at the same ward with him. Musa Musaev has noted that he saw on the Makhmud Akhmedov's body no signs beating. The lawyer of the victim argued that "in his earlier testimony, the witness Musaev reported the otherwise."

At the trial, defendant Nuruchinov stated that mother of the teenager was forced to defame them. He said that the woman was willing to go to the amicable agreement; however, human right defenders would not let her do that.

The next court hearing in the case is scheduled for October 25.