Advocate of native of Chechnya refuses to get acquainted with case files on attack on MfE employees

The preliminary investigation into the case of three natives of Chechnya, accused of attacking employees of the Ministry for Emergencies (MfE) in the Moscow village of Vnukovo, is over. According to the advocate Tatiana Okushko, she refused to get acquainted with the case files, because the defence witnesses were not questioned.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that residents of Chechnya Said-Magomed Tsetiev, Khamzat Tsetiev and Khamid Razhapov were detained on September 21-23, 2014. Investigators believe that they had beaten up three MfE employees in Vnukovo. On January 16, their advocates sent a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), indicating the investigators' refusal to check the defendants' alibi at the preliminary investigation.

On July 27, the investigator notified the advocates and defendants about the end of the preliminary investigation; and the case files were handed over to the defendants and their defence for studying, Tatiana Okushko, who is defending Said-Magomed Tsetiev, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent today.

She said she did not agree with the situation, since, according to her story, investigatory actions were not carried out in full, none of the defence witnesses was questioned; and she wrote a respective petition to the investigator.

"The investigator conducted the preliminary investigation unilaterally, without the participation of the defendants and their advocates, and in fact deprived the defendants of their right to defence," said Okushko.

Until her petition is satisfied, Ms Okushko, in her words, has reserved the right not to get acquainted with the case files.

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