"Novaya Gazeta": two Grozny residents complain to court about torture

Relatives openly supported two persons detained shortly after an attack on Grozny in December 2016. The case considered by the Staropromyslovsky District Court of the capital of Chechnya, has pointed to the change in the traditional mechanism of public condemnation, the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" reports today.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 17, 2016, attacks on policemen were committed in Grozny, and after that in the course of a special operation, according to the law enforcement agencies, seven suspected militants were killed and four others were detained. Later, local residents reported that relatives of the murdered and detained attackers had been massively detained. Some of them were executed at night on January 26, 2017, the "Novaya Gazeta" reported on July 9.

The Investigating Department for the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) is verifying the information about extrajudicial executions. However, investigators never questioned relatives of the disappeared people. Meanwhile, "something happened that could not be expected: the detainees who survived the mass raids" and who are being prosecuted under 'terrorist' articles started talking, the "Novaya Gazeta" reports today in the article "Revolt. I witnessed a precedent of which modern Chechnya is not aware."

At the trial in the case about of preparation for participation in an illegal armed formation (IAF), defendants Magomed Taramov, born in 1996, and Djamalai Tazbiev, born in 1998, pleaded not guilty and complained about torture. A large number of their relatives and neighbours came to the trial to support them. This was noted by Olga Bobrova, an author of the article, who visited one of the court hearings.

"In violation of the tradition of silence, which in recent years became the foundation for lawlessness in Chechnya, relatives refused to recognize them as guilty. They resisted together with all the villagers. They hired their advocates instead of appointed ones. Advocates Vladimir Rudkovsky and Khava Akhmadova ... found out the main thing: after the detention, Magomed and Djamalai were tortured and therefore they admitted their guilt," Olga Bobrova reports.

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