Court in Chechnya rejects all motions of Kutaev’s defence, advocate says

The Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya keeps rejecting all the petitions put forward by the defence during the consideration of the appeal against the verdict passed to Ruslan Kutaev, the President of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations, since the petitions reveal falsifications, said Pyotr Zaikin, Ruslan’s advocate.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 7 Kutaev was sentenced to four years in prison, although he insisted on his innocence. On October 22, the SC of Chechnya began considering the complaint against the verdict.

Two defence’s motions were considered at the court session on October 23, in particular a request to conduct a handwriting examination of the protocol of Kutaev’s inspection and examination of the photos from the place of the event. Kutaev himself stated that he had signed the protocol under torture and threats to his relatives.

The second petition asked to request a billing of policemen’s phone conversations, since, according to the defence, they gave contradictory testimonies about Kutaev’s detention.

In the opinion of Pyotr Zaikin, an examination of the photos made at the venue may jeopardize the prosecution's arguments.

Earlier, the Committee against Torture stated that prosecution's arguments have numerous contradictions, already revealed by advocates; however, the court failed to duly assess them.