11:27, 5 November 2014

Freedom House condemns refusal of Chechen SC to review Ruslan Kutaev's case

The international human rights organization Freedom House has condemned the refusal of the Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya to reconsider the case of Ruslan Kutaev, the convicted head of the Assembly of the Peoples of Northern Caucasus. The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in July Ruslan Kutaev was sentenced to four years on charges of drug possession. He appealed against the verdict, claiming his innocence.

"The SC's refusal to review the obviously unjust sentence to Ruslan Kutaev, as well as the opening of a case on charges of defamation against Pyotr Zaikin, one of his advocates, confirms that the Chechen authorities have total control over the system of justice, and use it to settle scores with the dissenters," said David Kramer, the President of the Freedom House.

"The Freedom House calls for the immediate release of Kutaev and urges the Russian government to protect lawyers from threats and intimidation by local authorities," the Voice of America quotes Mr Kramer as saying.

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