14:25, 24 January 2019

Residents of Ingushetia, accused of terrorism, claim being tortured

The North Caucasus District Military Court. Photo by Konstantin Volgin for the "Caucasian Knot"

Salamkhan Sampiev, Ruslan Esmurziev, Khusen Kitiev, Magomed Amatkhanov and Elbert Kharsiev, accused of preparing terrorist acts in Ingushetia and at the French Embassy in Moscow, have declared their innocence. According to their version, they gave confessions under torture.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 15, 2016, the FSB announced the detention of five suspects of links with the "Islamic State" (IS), banned in the Russian Federation by the court. Elbert Kharsiev's father said that a grenade was planted on his son during a search.

Andrei Bondarev, the advocate of Elbert Kharsiev, said that after detention, his client was tortured with electric current. After torture, Kharsiev stated that he had allegedly helped his brother to set up a laptop, by which the latter contacted militants, and kept a grenade at home.

Ilya Likhachov, an advocate of Ruslan Esmurziev, has expressed, on the request of his client, complaints about the state of health. According to the advocate, Esmurziev has completely lost sight in one eye, and now it is getting worse on the other eye, because he was not operated on.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 24, 2019 at 03:46 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Valery Lyugaev

Source: CK correspondent