HRC "Memorial" treats inquiry into attack on Datsiev as inefficient

During a year, the investigation of threats received by the staff of the Makhachkala branch of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", arson of rights defenders' car, and beating up of Sirazhudin Datsiev, has not progressed; investigators shy away from contacts with victims and their lawyers, stated the participants of the press conference that took place in the capital of Dagestan on February 15.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 22, 2018, a car of the branch of the HRC "Memorial" was set on fire in Makhachkala. On the next day, the branch staff received messages with threats, however, the HRC "Memorial" refused to stop its work in Dagestan. On March 28, 2018, Sirazhudin Datsiev, the head of the Makhachkala office of the HRC "Memorial", was beaten up. Human rights defenders believe that law enforcers could be involved in the attack.

According to Sirazhudin Datsiev, the only investigators' result he knows is that the location of the telephone, from which the threats were sent, has been established.

The attack case on Sirazhudin Datsiev is investigated extremely inefficiently, Abubakar Yangulbaev, a lawyer of the Committee against Torture (CaT) has confirmed.

According to his story, he never met the first investigator who ran the case. The next investigator who is running it now, also fails to contact the victim and his representatives. "I once managed to get through to him by phone; he told me to come to him on the following day but, but then, he became inaccessible," said Yangulbaev.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 15, 2019 at 10:05 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.