Defence requests court to release Oyub Titiev from arrest

At the court hearing on November 20, advocates of Oyub Titiev stated that the questioning of witness had been completed and public prosecutors had lost their arguments concerning possible pressure on the witnesses from the defendant. The advocates of the rights defender have again requested to release him from custody.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Oyub Titiev, accused of marijuana possession, has been in custody since January 11. He pleads not guilty and claims that the drugs were planted on him.

The defence has filed a motion for changing the pre-trial restriction measure to Oyub Titiev under the personal guarantees of Svetlana Gannushkina, the head of the "Civic Assistance" Committee, who attended the trial, and Grigory Yavlinsky, the leader of the "Yabloko" political party, who plans to attend the next court hearing, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" reports in its Telegram channel.

According to Svetlana Gannushkina, she knows Oyub Titiev since 2001, when they started their cooperation at the "Civic Assistance" and the "Memorial". "Oyub is a reliable person, and he is always honest. He will not flee. This is his work, and he will come to court and finish this work [if he is released on bail]," the rights defender emphasized.

"All the witnesses have already been questioned. Therefore, the reason used earlier by the public prosecutors concerning possible pressure on the witnesses from Oyub is already irrelevant. Besides, all materials are already in court," advocate Pyotr Zaikin justified the motion.

The public prosecutors requested the court for the time to prepare a position on the motion, and the court announced a break until November 26, reports the "Memorial" in its Telegram channel.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 20, 2018 at 08:48 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.