Dagestan court rejects petition to verify authenticity of documents presented as evidence against human rights activist Osman Boliev

On April 10 in Khasavyurt, Dagestan, at the trial of human rights activist Osman Boliev, accused of keeping, purchasing and carrying arms, the judge rejected the defense petition to examine the authenticity of the signatures of prosecution witnesses, police officers Vitaly Shamber and Konstantin Novitsky on the documents of the criminal case. This is as reported by attorney for the defense Salimat Kadyrova in a telephone conversation with CK correspondent Vyacheslav Feraposhkin.

Attorney Kadyrova stated "According to the Code of Criminal Procedure (UPK) the court has no standing in the proceeding against Boliev to address issues of law enforcement misconduct. The subject of the trial is the criminal case against the defendant Boliev, and not an investigation into alleged falsification of evidence." The attorney quoted the decision of the judge Jarali Ramazanov in rejecting the petition to conduct an official examination of the authenticity of prosecution document signatures.

"We are not seeking the prosecution of witnesses. The documents and the authenticity of the signatures which we wish to verify are used as proof in the case. Can it be that the authenticity of the proof has no reference to the issue of whether Boliev is guilty or innocent? The decision is just absurd. We, myself and lawyer Umaev, could not keep from laughing," attorney Salimat Kadyrova stated.

The defense had submitted a petition for interrogation of two police officers who communicated with Boliev on the day he had been detained. The defense had also petitioned for the production to the court of City police (GOVD) books where all the crimes and records of detained persons are registered. "We wished to check the time of Boliev's detention and the time when a hand grenade was reported to have been found and confiscated from him," the attorney for the defense says. "We have also asked the court to inquire of the Office of Prosecutor on the results of the investigation of the person who had allegedly provided Boliev with a hand grenade. The court has satisfied these petitions".

The criminal case against the head of the activist group "Camomile," Osman Boliev, resident of Khasavyurt, had been taken up by the court again on March 16, after a monthly break for the purpose of medical treatment of the defendant. Earlier on February 13 Osman Boliev had been released from custody following a petition of the defense. Sergey Brovchenko, a Moscow attorney for the defendant, believes that the human rights activist had been held in custody illegally.

Osman Boliev had been detained on November 15, 2005 by officers of the Dagestan Motor Licensing and Inspection Department under the pretext of checking his automobile as possibly one reported as stolen. Subsequently on the way to the Khasavyurt police station Boliev's car was stopped by the agents of the mobile criminal investigation unit of the Russian Federation Ministry of Internal Affairs. Boliev was handed over to policemen; he was then handcuffed and a bag was put over his head preventing him from seeing where he was being taken. At the Khasavyurt Department of Internal Affairs he stated he was tortured for some hours. Then he had been searched and a disassembled hand grenade was "discovered." There were also attempts to accuse Boliev of participation in an illegal armed group.

Some experts believe the main reason for Boliev's detention and criminal charges are his human rights activities through his leadership of the non-profit organization Camomile. Camomile is the initiator of a widely known criminal investigation regarding the abduction of local resident Jaraly Israilov by agents of the Khasavjurt GOVD in Dagestan on October 19, 2004. Together with the Director of the International Commission of Lawyers, the legal expert of the Center of Assistance to the International Defense Karina Moskalenko, Boliev has filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights. Boliev has also made public the facts of the murder of a 6-year old girl Abdurashitova Summaya by officers of Dagestan law enforcement agencies during special actions attempting seizure of those suspected of criminal activities. She was killed from a ricochet of a large-caliber shell while in her bed on March 14, 2005 in the locality of Solnechnoye, Hasavjurt region. This complaint has also been filed in the European Court.

The human rights center Memorial declared on March 16 that the "criminal prosecution of Osman Boliev has distinctly expressed political grounds".

• At the trial of human rights activist Boliev in Dagestan, the judge appears to favor the prosecution, defense attorney states