20:07, 3 November 2015

Kabardino-Balkarian SC reduces Zaur Tokhov's sentence

SIZO in Nalchik. Screenshot of a video by the user Caucasian Policy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLXez5eqNNo

Today, the Supreme Court (SC) of Kabardino-Balkaria has considered an appeal filed against the verdict pronounced by the Zolsky District Court against Zaur Tokhov, a resident of the village of Kamennomostskoe. The sentence has been reduced from 5.5 down to 3.5 years of imprisonment.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 8, 2014, Zaur Tokhov was found guilty of illegal possession of weapons and drugs and of aiding and abetting militants. The court sentenced the defendant to 3.5 years of imprisonment; however, on November 11, 2014, the Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria cancelled the verdict and sent the criminal case back for retrial. After the retrial, the Zaur Tokhov's sentence was extended by two years of imprisonment.

The verdict was challenged both by the Zaur Tokhov's defence and the Zolsky District Prosecutor's Office, which also treated the sentence as too severe. The Prosecutor's Office requested the Supreme Court to sentence the defendant to four years of imprisonment. Advocates asked to free Zaur Tokhov from punishment because of failure of evidence of his guilt.

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

Author: Lyudmila Maratova

Source: CK correspondent