Suicide attempt of Chechen inmate not to stop the court to hold debates on his case

Khalid Azmatgiriev, a native of Chechnya, who is serving hissentence in a penal colony in Mordovia, inflicted more than 20 cuts on his stomach with a razor right in the courtroom in protest against the judge's biased attitude to him, in his opinion. Three days after the incident, the court continued hearing the case without an advocate by agreement, the defence has stated.

"On September 20, during a court session, when the court rejected all the defence's motions, the defendant took out a blade from somewhere and inflicted about 20 cuts on his stomach, causing heavy bleeding. Doctors had to be called into the courtroom," Anas Elmurzaev, an advocate, has explained.

The defence petitioned, in particular, to appoint a psychiatric examination for Azmatgiriev due to his unstable emotional condition.

The inmate is accused of hitting a colony ward, although there are no objective proofs of his guilt, the advocate has stated, adding that his client's rights in the colony are "systematically violated.