In Astrakhan, ship captain claims falsification of case on storage of a bomb

Nail Mukhanov, a resident of Astrakhan, accused of illicit trafficking of ammunition and explosive devices, claims that the case against him has been fabricated.

Nail Mukhanov, an employee of the FSUE (Federal State Unitary Enterprise) "Rosmorport", the captain of the "Yenisei" vessel, and a father of three children, was detained in the morning on February 6. On that day, according to Nail Mukhanov, he was returning home from his daily duty. He wanted to take his MRI image and go to a doctor, however, a hundred meters from the house, law enforcers in masks detained him right on the street. In his bag, they found some items not belonging to him, the accused claims. According to Nail Mukhanov, the parcel allegedly found by the law enforcers contained a TNT block and a round for grenade launchers, which were fastened together with a Scotch tape. Nail Mukhanov is charged under the article on illicit trafficking of weapons and ammunition and on illicit trafficking of explosives or explosive devices.

In the course of a court hearing in the case against Nail Mukhanov, which took place in the Leninsky District Court of Astrakhan on December 3, the defendant noted there were a lot of contradictions in the testimonies given by the law enforcers.

The law enforcers "gave conflicting testimonies: they could not even agree on where interrogations and other events took place ... They also gave conflicting testimonies about who took the prohibited items out of my bag and who invited witnesses," the defendant said.

"I have claimed that I was beaten on the day of my detention and that the case was falsified," Nail Mukhanov stated.

"We filed a number of motions to the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) and the Prosecutor's Office. Our motion could shed light on the case, but they were all ignored ... There is no objectivity in the case," Nail Mukhanov claimed at the trial.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 6, 2019 at 04:11 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.