Rights defenders report resumption of inquiry into torture of resident of Ingushetia
The investigators' sixth decision to suspend the inquiry into the torture of Albert Khamkhoev, a resident of Ingushetia, has been cancelled, the Committee against Torture (CaT) has informed. The case has been entrusted to a new investigator, rights defenders have clarified.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 10, 2018, a court in Nazran sentenced the athlete, Albert Khamkhoev, to 1.5 years of conditional imprisonment, finding him guilty of storing weapons. Khamkhoev refused to plead guilty and stated that he was tortured after detention.
After Khamkhoev's allegations of torture, a criminal case was initiated, in which an employee of the Centre for Combating Extremism (CCE, or "E" Centre) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Ingushetia is a suspect. In September 2018, the CaT stated that the investigation into Khamkhoev's torture protracted.
Since the initiation of Albert Khamkhoev's torture case, the inquiry was suspended for six times, indicating that there is no real possibility for the suspect to participate in the criminal case, the CaT has reported.
Albert Khamkhoev was detained after the militants' attacks on the road-and-patrol (DPS) police post in Yandare on November 5, 2017. According to his relatives, law enforcers had beaten Khamkhoev up and planted a pistol on him. Relatives have linked the young man's persecution with the fact that he trained together with Magomed Murzabekov, who was killed during the attack on the DPS post.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 20, 2019 at 05:21 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.