17:15, 26 June 2018

Chechen SC refuses to release rights defender Titiev from custody (+video)

Oyub Titiev. Photo by the press service of the Human Rights Centre "Memorial"

The Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya has rejected the complaint against the judgement to keep Oyub Titiev, the head of the Grozny branch of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", under arrest until July 9. This is reported by the Telegram-channel of the HRC "Memorial".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the consideration of the complaint began on June 25. The defence asked to transfer Titiev under house arrest.

Since January 11, Oyub Titiev is under arrest on charges of possessing marijuana. He keeps stating that the drug was planted on him by a law enforcer. On May 31, a court in Grozny extended the Titiev's arrest until July 9, despite the defence's argument that there was no need to restrict Titiev's freedom.

The outcome of the consideration of complaints about the extension of Titiev's arrest, and the refusal to open a case on the drug planted on him was known in advance, said Titiev's advocate and colleagues. According to their story, the prosecutor was not even prepared for the trial; while the court has ignored all the defence's convincing arguments.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 26, 2018 at 15:35 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.