Court dismisses defence's request to re-examine material evidence in case against Imam of Kislovodsk

On September 8, during the court hearing held on the case against Kurman-Ali Baichorov, the Imam of the city of Kislovodsk, accused of drug trafficking, the court sent for correction the details of the phone conversations of law enforcers submitted at the request of the defendant's advocate. Besides, the court has also dismissed conduction of re-examination of the material evidence.

During the court hearing held on August 26, the defence has claimed that the evidences submitted by investigators contradict to the evidences included in the case materials. The next court hearing was scheduled for September 1; however, it was again postponed until September 8.

It was planned that on the court hearing of September 8, the court would question the key prosecution witnesses; however, the questioning was postponed: the defence was not provided with the details of the phone conversations held by a law enforcer, since they had been returned for "elimination of discrepancies." This was reported by Alaudi Musaev, an advocate of Kurman-Ali Baichorov.

The defence believes that the details of the phone conversations had been hidden to correct the data. Alaudi Musaev has also reported no response to the appeal of human rights defenders, who had requested Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Vladimirov to take personal control over the investigation into the case against the Imam. Besides, the advocate has noted that no check is conducted into the fact of threats voiced against Kurman-Ali Baichorov during his detention.