11:08, 10 April 2019

Defence tells about Titiev's custody conditions in colony

Oyub Titiev. Photo: Dmitry Borko, HRC 'Memorial'.

Oyub Titiev has been taken to a settlement colony in Argun and placed into quarantine, his advocate Pyotr Zaikin and Oleg Orlov, the board chair of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" have informed.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 18, the court found Oyub Titiev, head of the Chechen branch of the HRC "Memorial", guilty of drug possession and sentenced him to four years in a settlement colony. The human rights defender refused to file an appeal in the hope of conditional early release (CER) in May.

Oyub Titiev has been in custody since January 9, 2018. He insists that drugs were planted to him. The HRC "Memorial" submitted to the court 10 facts testifying to the falsification of the criminal case.

In the evening on April 5, Oyub Titiev was convoyed to settlement colony No. 3 in town of Argun, Oleg Orlov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on April 9. Now, Oyub is in quarantine, but this is not related to his health. "This is a normal practice, when a newcomer is placed there. As soon as he leaves the quarantine, we'll visit him," Mr Orlov said.

He believes that Titiev's custody conditions are acceptable. The head of the Chechen branch of the HRC "Memorial" is allowed to read the books he took with him and to maintain his physical fitness. Oyub can be visited not only by relatives, but also by any other persons whom he does not mind seeing, Oleg Orlov has explained.

Titiev will be kept under doctors' quarantine until the start of the next week; this is a standard procedure, his advocate Pyotr Zaikin, who visited Titiev on April 8, has confirmed, adding that his client feels satisfactory; Oyub's physical condition causes no concern.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 9, 2019 at 11:55 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.