13:42, 17 January 2008

Court to consider early release of Stomakhin

The Tonshaevskiy District Court of the Nizhniy Novgorod Region will consider a possibility of a conditional early release (CER) of Boris Stomakhin, publicist of the Chechen separatists' website named "Kavkaz-Centre", who was sentenced to 5 years of colony for kindling interethnic enmity and extremism. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed about it by former Soviet political prisoner Elena Sannikova, a member of the group in defence of Stomakhin.

"Boris was called up to the special unit of the colony and familiarized against his signature with a message that the documents on his CER had been sent to the Tonshaevskiy District Court," Ms Sannikova said. The exact date of the court session on Stomakhin's CER is still unknown, but it is rather probable that it will take place next week.

The convict himself, according to the human rights activist, is currently suffering from bronchitis; the disease commenced on the eve of the New Year, right on December 31.

Author: Vyacheslav Feraposhkin, CK correspondent