Stavropol court rejects all petitions of advocates of Kurman-Ali Baichorov, Imam of Kislovodsk

On August 25, the Predgorny District Court of the Stavropol Territory dismissed all the petitions, demanding to change the measure of restraint and disqualify the judge, lodged by the advocates of Kurman-Ali Baichorov, the Imam of Kislovodsk, accused of drug storage. This was reported by Alaudi Musaev, one of the advocates.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 29, 2013, Kurman-Ali (Kurman) Baichorov was charged with illegal possession of narcotic drugs. His retinue treated the charge as a provocation and expressed the opinion that the reason was in the Imam's irreconcilable position in the issue of the mosques in Kislovodsk.

The case of the Imam Kislovodsk has been considered at 14 court sessions already, Alaudi Musaev, a partner of the law firm "Musaev and Partners", told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

At the session on August 25, Baichorov's defence asked the court to change the Imam's freedom restraint from custody to a softer one, since there are no reasons to extend his arrest; however, the judge rejected the petition.

"The process is very hard; everything is completely far-fetched; the atmosphere in the courtroom is biased; the attitude of the court is biased: all the defence's motions are rejected. It is evident that the court has already ruled out, without completing the trial," Kheda Saratova, a member of the advisory board of the Office of the Ombudsman under the President of the Russian Federation, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.