At press conference on July 31 Dagestani lawyers plan report massive violations of their clients' rights to defence

In Dagestan, the rights of detainees to defence are massively violated, lawyers assert. They intend to raise the issue at a press conference scheduled for July 31 at the Bar building in Makhachkala, Dagestan.

The press conference will be attended by lawyers from Makhachkala, Kizilyurt, Khasavyurt and Derbent.

According to Salimat Kadyrova, one of the participants of the upcoming press conference, massive violations of detainees' right to defence began about three months ago.

"This is noted by all the lawyers, with whom I talked. Since the start of the campaign against corruption in Dagestan, with the cause of 'Kolkhoznik' (Magomed Abdulgalimov, the former Assistant Public Prosecutor of the city of Kizlyar, – note of the "Caucasian Knot"), we are facing huge difficulties in our work. Defenders aren't admitted to their clients; if we raise a hype, they are moved to other jails and don't tell us where," said Salimat Kadyrova.

In his turn, Amirkhan Gasanov, the head of the press service of the UFSIN (Department of the Russian Penitentiary Service) for Dagestan, has stated that Dagestani SIZOs (pre-trial prisons) see no violations of the rights of the detainees and convicts kept there.