17:59, 13 January 2017

Opening of case on police inaction at pogrom of JMG's office denied for the sixth time

The building where the office of the Joint Mobile Group (JMG) was located. Grozny, December 14, 2014. Photo by Akhmed Aldebirov for the "Caucasian Knot"

The Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) has for the sixth time refused to initiate a case on inaction of policemen, who failed on time to respond to the call from Grozny, where the office of the Joint Mobile Group (JMG) of rights defenders was destroyed. This refusal of the ICRF has been already appealed against, said the activists of the "Committee for the Prevention of Torture" (CPT).

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 3, 2015, JMG office in Grozny, which had worked under the auspices of the "Committee against Torture" (CAT) was destroyed. According to eyewitnesses, policemen came to the place of the incident only after the attackers had smashed the rights defenders' car, destroyed the office and the apartment of the JMG.

"The 'Committee for the Prevention of Torture' (CPT) began its operation in August 2015, replacing the "Committee against Torture" (CAT). The reorganization was associated with the pressure on non-profit organizations (NPOs), put on the list of foreign agents.

The material of the ICRF has failed to fix the exact time of arrival of police operatives to the call, rights defenders have reported.

Igor Kalyapin, the head of the CPT, has stressed that rights defenders will seek recognition of all such decisions as illegal.

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