Human rights defenders recognize Isaev and Magamadov as political prisoners

Ismail Isaev and Salekh Magamadov were prosecuted for publicly criticizing the Chechen authorities and for their belonging to the LGBT community, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) “Memorial”* concludes.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that back in early February, law enforcers took 20-year-old Salekh Magamadov and his brother Ismail, who was a minor at that time, away from Nizhny Novgorod. At a court hearing held in the absence of advocates and the parents of the young men, the court ordered them to be taken into custody. In March 2021, the brothers filed a complaint to the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) about beatings and torture after their detentions in both 2020 and 2021. When advocate visited the brothers, the young men said they had been forced to sign fabricated confessions.

Ismail Isaev and Salekh Magamadov fall under the international criteria of the concept of a “political prisoner,” and the criminal proceedings against the brothers are politically motivated and illegal, the HRC “Memorial”* concludes.

“Their prosecution is aimed at involuntarily stopping public criticism of the authorities and is conditioned by their belonging to the Chechen LGBT community. The prosecution of Isaev and Magamadov violates their right to freedom of expression, as well as their right to personal freedom and security,” reads the today’s post on the website of the human rights organization.

* The organization is included by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) of Russia in the register of foreign agents.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 13, 2021 at 06:09 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.