Belyalov's advocate complains to Bastrykin about investigators' refusal to check his client's alibi

The advocate of Ramzan Belyalov, a native of Chechnya, accused of involvement in the bandit attack on the city of Budyonnovsk, has sent a complaint to Alexander Bastrykin, the Chairman of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), stating an infringement of his client's right to a fair trial and investigators' unwillingness to check Belyalov's alibi.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Belyalov was detained on June 2 in Gudermes on suspicion of involvement in the militants' attack on Budyonnovsk back in June 1995 and placed into SIZO (pre-trial prison) "Bely Lebed" (White Swan) in Pyatigorsk. On June 24, the Essentuki City Court decided to leave him in custody until October 1.

According to Sergey Zagnoyko, he has testimonies of ten villagers of Vozdvizhenka in Bashkiria, where Belyalov worked for six months in 1995, and, in particular, he was in the village on the days of the above attack on Budyonnovsk.

According to Zagnoyko, the investigator had refused to accept from him the archival data about Belyalov's payroll for the period from May to December 1995, and the interrogation materials of Vozdvizhenka villagers.

The complaint, addressed to Bastrykin, says that the alibi statement shall be checked on the urgent and priority basis, since it confirms the defendant's innocence and it is associated with his freedom as a basic human value.

The advocate asks to take measures to eliminate the violations in the interests of further objective investigation.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.