Lawyers express their indignation about death of Dagestani resident after more than three years spent by him at Makhachkala SIZO

A 57-year-old resident of Dagestan died in a hospital of a penal colony, where he was taken after 3.5 years in a SIZO (pre-trial prison). The defendant’s health was constantly deteriorating, but the court did not soften the pre-trial restriction measure, reported Shamil Khadulaev, the deputy chair of the Public Oversight Commission of Dagestan. It causes indignation when a person is being kept in prolonged detention without trial, states lawyer Arsen Magomedov.

57-year-old defendant Gurami Musaev died in the hospital.

“On December 6, I saw him at trial in the Soviet District Court ... He was all sick, was coughing all the time, and he even refused to speak because he was unable to speak. He had a lung disease ... He died because of pulmonary failure,” Shamil Khadulaev, the deputy chairman of the Public Oversight Commission (POC) of Dagestan, wrote in his Telegram channel.

Lawyer Arsen Magomedov described the case as “terrible.”

“He <Gurami Musaev> spent 3.5 years in the SIZO, and the Sovetsky District Court was extending his detention all that time (I don’t even understand how such a prolongation of detention is legally possible) ... Firstly, a person should not have to wait that long before trial being kept in a SIZO (either a trial should be carried out, or a person should be released). Secondly, it is prohibited to extend detention without serious reasons ... Thirdly, seriously ill people may not be kept in a SIZO, but must be sent to a hospital,” lawyer Arsen Magomedov wrote in his Telegram channel.

“Gurami Musaev’s death is subject to a public investigation, identification of those responsible, and elimination of the causes to ensure that nothing similar will ever happen again,” Arsen Magomedov concluded.

*On November 24, 2023, the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) included Idris Yusupov into the register of foreign agents. The journalist filed an appeal against the MoJ’s decision.