11 July 2018, 20:04
Defenders report filing a complaint against Oyub Titiev's arrest to ECtHR
Oyub Titiev, the head of the "Memorial" office in Grozny, has filed a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg against violation of his right to freedom and political motives for criminal prosecution. That is reported by his advocate.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 9, the Shali City Court of Chechnya extended Oyub Titiev's arrest until December 22.
On January 11, Oyub Titiev was arrested on the charge of marijuana possession. The rights defender complained that a law enforcer planted the drugs to him. The authorities of the Chechen Republic have repeatedly claimed that Oyub Titiev was guilty.
On July 9, advocates of the "Memorial" sent a complaint to the Strasbourg Court, the "Kommersant" reports with reference to Tatiana Glushkova, an Oyub Titiev's lawyer.
At the complaint filed to the ECtHR, the lawyers of Oyub Titiev challenge the rights defender's detention, arrest and keeping in custody.
Tatiana Glushkova believes the ECtHR's recognition of a violation of Article 18 of the Convention on the prohibition of "politically motivated prosecution" may arise a lot of resonance. According to the lawyer, the prosecution was aimed to stop the activities of the "Memorial" office in Chechnya.
"The political nature of the case is proved by the problems of other human rights organizations, including the Committee Against Torture and the Joint Mobile Group (JMG) in Chechnya," stated Tatiana Glushkova. The lawyer mentioned the attacks on the human rights defenders' office in Grozny in 2016, on a bus with human rights defenders and journalists on the border with Ingushetia, and on Igor Kalyapin, the head of the Committee Against Torture.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 10, 2018 at 12:34 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
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