17:06, 28 May 2018

Petition in defence of Oyub Titiev has 50,000 signatures

Oyub Titiev. Photo by the press service of the Human Rights Centre "Memorial"

At the moment, more than 50,000 people have signed the petition "Let's free rights defender Oyub Titiev!" addressed to Russian president.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 15, Lana Estemirova, a daughter of rights defender Natalia Estemirova, posted a video message in support of Oyub Titiev, urging the president to intervene in the situation with the prosecution of the head of the Grozny office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial". She asked Vladimir Putin to transfer Titiev's case to the federal level.

Oyub Titiev was arrested on January 11 on charges of possessing marijuana. He keeps insisting that the drug was planted on him by a law enforcer. On May 25, the French President Emmanuel Macron met Alexander Cherkasov, the head of the HRC "Memorial", who told him about the Titiev case and the attacks on the HRC "Memorial" in Northern Caucasus.

As of 5:00 p.m. Moscow time on May 28, the petition posted two weeks ago, was supported by 50,418 people. In their comments, signatories demand to stop pressing rights defenders and set Titiev free.

"The case is grossly fabricated and shames Russia in its uneasy geopolitical situation," wrote Elina Rakhimova.

"It's time for the president to stop ignoring human rights violations in Chechnya," Anna Pokrovskaya believes.

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