00:38, 18 March 2015

Members of Moscow POC visit two defendants accused of Boris Nemtsov's murder

On March 17, members of the Moscow Public Oversight Commission (POC) visited the temporary detention facility (known as IVS), where Khamzat Bakhaev and Tamerlan Eskerkhanov, accused of the murder of the politician Boris Nemtsov, are kept. Tamerlan Eskerkhanov complained about abuses and threats from the IVS staff.

Opposition politician Boris Nemtsov was shot and killed in Moscow on February 27. Five persons, including Zaur Dadaev, Anzor and Shagid Gubashev, Khamzat Bakhaev and Tamerlan Eskerkhanov, were detained on suspicion of involvement in the murder. They would not plead guilty.

"At 06:00 a.m., we, Alexander Kulikovskiy and Elena Masyuk, the members of the Moscow POC, managed to meet Khamzat Bakhaev and Tamerlan Eskerkhanov, two defendants in Boris Nemtsov murder case" Elena Masyuk has stated.

According to the human rights defender, Khamzat Bakhaev voiced no complaints about detention, and he said nothing about the conditions of detention.

In his turn, Tamerlan Eskerkhanov complained to the human rights defenders about the law enforcers' refusal to notify his family members about his detention and allow hired advocates visiting the defendant; besides, he complained about abuses and threats from the warders, Elena Masyuk wrote in her blog.

The human rights defenders have claimed that those actions contain signs of criminal acts, including disorderly conduct and abuse of power.

"Given the similar reports on crimes against other defendants in this case that have been publicly voiced earlier and that have not entailed any inspections, we have to appeal to the leaders of the country with a request for soonest elimination of violations," the human rights defenders have concluded.

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