Witnesses for prosecution questioned in Dagestan court during trial of human rights activist Boliev

Today, on March 24, the Khasavyurt town court hearing of the case of the human rights activist Osman Boliev accused of storage, acquisition and wearing of arms continues in Dagestan. Ruslan, the brother of the accused, and lawyer Salimat Kadyrova told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by telephone from Khasavyurt during a break in the court session about the proceedings.

In the morning, at the beginning of the court session, the prosecution announced that the court would hear the witnesses for the prosecution, namely, captains Vitali Shamber and Konstantin Novitskiy from the criminal investigation department of the RF MIA mobile group, who had taken part in the detention and interrogation of Osman Boliev on November 15 of last year, as well as the search witnesses who had been present during the discovery of a grenade.

In the first half of the day, the court, upon the request of the prosecutor's office, heard a witness who had not been announced previously. That was an officer from the Khasavyurt town internal affairs department who, according to Salimat Kadyrova, introduced himself as "examination inspector." That officer had compiled the report on the personal search of Osman Boliev, detained for an administrative offence, in the course of which a grenade was discovered in the detainee's coat, which he confirmed in court.

"I asked the witness why he had failed to sign the report and the militiaman answered that it had been his mistake. After such words the prosecutor got nervous and prompted the witness that there is a separate report on the refusal by Boliev to sigh the search report. The prosecutor said that the report on the refusal to sign was part, continuation of the search report," relates the defence lawyer. "The witness himself, prior to the prosecutor's prompt, did not hold that view." The lawyer protested the interference of the prosecutor into the witness interrogation by the defence.

"The prosecutor nervously shouted that witness had never said that failure to sign the report was his mistake and that his testimony should be corrected," says Kadyrova. Since the other witnesses for the prosecution were absent, after the examination of the "examination inspector", the judge announced a break until 14.00. At present, the court session continues.

In the lawyer's opinion, the interrogation of the witnesses for the prosecution will not be completed and will go on on Monday, March 26, from 10.00. Sergey Brovchenko, Osman's Moscow lawyer, stated to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that he intends to fly to Dagestan on Sunday night in order to take part in the trial.

For reference, the court trial on the case of Osman Boliev resumed on March 16, after a long break connected with medical treatment of the defendant. The defence represented by lawyers Ahmed Umayev and Salimat Kadyrova filed an application to exclude from the list of evidences the report on Boliev's search because it had not been signed either by the persons conducting the search or by Boliev. Salimat Kadyrova stated that "it is obvious that the evidence was obtained with violations of legislative requirements and have no legal force. If the report is not signed it is not valid." The court rejected the defence application.

Lawyer Ahmed Umayev states "I am surprised with the judge's approach because, since the document is not signed, it is not valid and, therefore, the case is not worth a damn. It is not clear what the prosecution hopes for."

On March 16, Arsen Khasaev, officer of the criminal investigation department in Khasavyurt, was examined as a witness for the prosecution. He stated the he had been present during the Boliev's search when, in the presence of the search witnesses, a grenade was confiscated. However, when lawyer Salimat Kadyrova asked him, why Khasaev's name was not mentioned in the report, he was unable to answer, saying that he "remembers nothing."

Earlier, on March 13, Osman Boliev was released from custody upon a petition of the defence. Lawyer Sergey Brovchenko who defends Boliev with the assistance of the "Public Verdict" foundation, the human rights activist was illegally placed in custody. "The report on the detainment has not been signed even by the person who detained him and found that ammunition was in his pockets. He never gave any testimony during investigation, except once about nothing," said the defence lawyer to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Osman Boliev was detained on November 15, 2005 traffic militia officers under the pretext of checking information about his car which they claimed resembled the one registered as stolen. However, on the way to the Khasavyurt militia station, Boliev's car was stopped by officers of the RF MIA operational search mobile unit (RF MIA OSMU). The traffic militia officers handed Boliev over to the mobile unit officers and left. The latter, in their turn, placed О. Boliev into their car, put a bag over his head, handcuffed him and brought to the internal affairs unit of Khasavyurt. According to the human rights activist, they were torturing him at the militia station for several hours, then searched his and "discovered" a dismantled grenade on him. Initially, they tried to accuse Boliev of membership in an illegal armed unit.

"Osman is only armed with a pen. It is a terrible arm which he used to write to the European Court. I am sure that this is the reason why they initiated a criminal case against him," stated Sergey Brovchenko to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "Immediately after his detainment on November 15 last year, he was severely beaten and tortured for four hours. He lost conscience several times. The militia officers, while beating him, said that "his behaviour is wrong." Then they found a fuse and the body of a grenade in two pockets of his coat," related the lawyer.

Lawyer Salimat Kadyrova told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that she had applied to the Khasavyurt prosecutor's office with a request to initiate criminal proceedings against the officers of the Dagestan power officers who had been torturing and beating her defendant. However, as it follows from the response of the prosecutor's office, those facts had not been confirmed in the course of a check.

In the opinion of the defence lawyers, the prosecution files contain a number of strange circumstances. "Firstly, the search was conducted not on the place where Boliev was detained, but at the militia station. Logically speaking, Boliev, when he was following the traffic militia car, he could have got rid of the grenade parts, but he failed to do so," runs the statement of the "Public Verdict" foundation. "Secondly, the documents submitted to the prosecutor's office lacked a description of the grenade. Thirdly, the documents submitted to the prosecutor's office for initiating a criminal case lacked examination of the search witnesses (such materials of examination were submitted only several days later). Fourthly, the documents submitted to the prosecutor's office for initiating a criminal case lacked the materials on administrative detainment."

A number of experts think that the cause of the Boliev's charge has been his professional activity. The "Romashka" public organization headed by Boliev has been initiator of notorious court proceedings on the case of kidnapping of Dagestan resident Yaraly Israilov on October 19, 2004 by officers of Khasavyurt department of internal affairs. Boliev, along with Karina Moskalenko, head of International Protection Facilitation Centre, compiled and sent a complaint on the case to the European Court on Human Rights. In addition, Boliev publicly disclosed the fact of murder of Summai Abdurashitova, a 6-year old girl, by Dagestan law enforcement officers during a secret operation on arresting suspected criminals. She was killed on March 14, 2005 in her bed in the village of Solnechnoye, Khasavyurt district, by a fragment of a large-calibre shell. A complaint on the case was also filed in the European Court.

The "Memorial" human rights centre stated on March 16 that "the criminal prosecution of Osman Boliev in Dagestan is clearly politically motivated."