17:30, 14 December 2014

Grozny: policemen confiscate equipment from lawyers of CaT's JMG

Fire in the flat where the office of the Joint Mobile Group of the Committee against Torture (CaT) is located. Grozny, December 15, 2014. Photo by Akhmed Aldebirov for the "Caucasian Knot"

Policemen have searched lawyers of the Joint Mobile Group (JMG) of the Committee against Torture (CaT) and confiscated their mobile phones, cameras and laptops, rights defenders report.

On Sunday, December 14, the Grozny police detained, during a search, the lawyers of the CaT Sergey Babinets and Dmitry Dmitriev, who were planning to leave Chechnya. Later, the lawyers were released.

According to the CaT, policemen promised to provide them with equipment confiscation protocols.

As stated by Mikhail Fedotov, the head of the Russian Presidential Council on Human Rights, the Council is working to eliminate the misunderstanding between the authorities of the Chechen Republic and the CaT and launch dialogue.

In their turn, law enforcement bodies of Chechnya refute the statements about the incident with rights defenders.

"Within the last days, members of the CaT are taking all possible steps trying to organize a provocation. This misinformation is deliberately disseminated," the "Interfax" quotes its law enforcement source.

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