Residents of Dagestan tell about torture and money extortion

Despite the claim of torture, the Makhachkala court has sentenced Yusup Asadulaev to eight years in colony, after finding him guilty of helping Ruslan Darsamov, the leader of the local underground. Asadulaev's brother, who also complained of torture, is being protected by rights defenders, the "Mediazona" has reported.

Law enforcers extorted a large sum of money and an expensive car from Yusup Asadulaev, who was accused of links with militants, threatening to apply a tougher article to him, his sister, who is trying to achieve her brother's acquittal, has stated.

According to Asadulaev himself, his detention was more like kidnapping. Besides, he was beaten up and tortured with electric current for several hours; and he lost consciousness. He signed the interrogation protocols and pleaded guilty "only because he could no longer withstand the pain."

Over 15 years of using law enforcement practices in Dagestan, aimed at combating terrorism and extremism, mass arrests in mosques, kidnappings, fabrication of criminal cases based on slander under pressure, falsification of evidence or self-incrimination under torture have developed into a system, said Denis Sokolov, the head of the RAMCOM Centre for Regional Socio-Economic Studies.

Shortly after the detention of Yusup Asadulaev, his relatives assumed that his brother, a 41-year-old businessman, Ali Isaev, was under threat. On June 22, 2017, Isaev was detained.

He has confessed to his participation in the illegal armed formations (IAFs). Later, he said that he had endured the same torture as his brother.