Baichorov's advocate associates his client's case with plans to demolish Kislovodsk mosque

On September 27, the court of appeal began to question witnesses in the case against of Kislovodsk Imam Kurman-Ali Baichorov. Witness Vitaly Kravtsov, who was invited as a witness during the Imam's detention, stated that he had arrived to the checkpoint of the road-and-patrol service (known as DPS) by an order of his Ataman. According to the witness, when he saw Kurman-Ali Baichorov for the first time, the latter had been already kept at the DPS checkpoint handcuffed behind his back and with a plastic bag over his head.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in January 2015, Kurman-Ali Baichorov was sentenced to 3.5 years of imprisonment on the charge of drug trafficking. He pleaded not guilty and claimed the drugs had been planted on him. On June 29, the court of cassation returned the case against Kurman-Ali Baichorov to the court of appeal for re-consideration.

"The witnesses have completely cut to pieces the indictment, with which the criminal case was sent to the court," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Alaudi Musaev, an advocate of Kurman-Ali Baichorov. According to the advocate, his statement is proven by the testimonies of the above mentioned witnesses and details of their mobile phone conversations.

"According to investigators, Bazyka and Kravtsov were stopped by DPS inspectors when they accidentally drove by the Mirny checkpoint and were invited as witnesses. Meanwhile, witnesses Bazyka and Kravtsov themselves testify that Filatov, a senior field investigator of the FSB Department for Kislovodsk 'held' the witnesses for six hours before the detention of Kurman-Ali Baichorov," the advocate noted.

"It all was started because of the indignation of the Imam of the Kislovodsk mosque, the Deputy Mufti of the StavropolTerritory, about the decision made by the Kislovodsk City Mayoralty on the demolition of mosques in the city," believes Alaudi Musaev.

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