HRC "Memorial" recognizes Ruslan Kutaev political prisoner because of falsifications in his case

Ruslan Kutaev, President of the Assembly of Peoples of the Caucasus, has been recognized a political prisoner because of falsifications in his case and violation of his right to a fair trial. This was announced by the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial". Human rights defenders believe Ruslan Kutaev was deprived of liberty to force him to stop his public activities.

After the detention of Ruslan Kutaev, one of his relatives has claimed that Ruslan Kutaev started to face problems immediately after the scientific conference titled "The deportation of the Chechen people. What it was and whether it is possible to forget?" was held in Chechnya on February 18.

According to the HRC "Memorial", Ruslan Kutaev used to be a socio-political figure. He often gave interviews to the media with the comments, in which he "negatively assessed the situation in Northern Caucasus, including Chechnya, give impartial evaluation of the political regime established there. And at present, such behaviour is unique for residents of the today's Chechnya."

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported with reference to Pyotr Zaikin, the defendant's advocate, that at the court session, one of the prosecution witnesses gave testimony contradicting the official version of the circumstances surrounding the detention of the human rights defender.

On May 24, participants of the conference "Human Rights and International Relations in Northern Caucasus" and the "Yabloko" Party appealed to the Russian President and asked him to take the trial against Ruslan Kutaev under his personal control.

See earlier reports: "At trial, witness refutes official version of Ruslan Kutaev's detention, advocate asserts", "HRW demands to release President of "Assembly of Caucasian Nations" detained in Chechnya", "Resident of Ingushetia is in intensive care after questioning and suicide attempt, says his brother", "Dagestani native suspected of involvement in IAFs in Syria".