Despite statements about torture, residents of Chechnya sentenced to seven years in prison

The Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya has confirmed the conviction of Khusein Batalov and Yusup Dauev in the case of preparing murder motivated by religious hatred. Their defence alleged torture, but the court found these arguments unjustified.

Both the prosecution and the defence have challenged at the Chechen SC the verdict of the Gudermes District Court in the case against Batalov and Dauev on preparation for participation in an armed formation, preparation for murder based on religious hatred and illegal arms dealing, but the SC has approved the verdict with minor changes, the "Kavkaz.Realii"* project has reported.

Marina Dubrovina, an advocate for Batalov, has pointed out that the case materials had been falsified, and the court's conclusions failed to correspond to the actual circumstances of the case. She has emphasized that torture was used against her client; and his fingerprints were not found on the pistol seized from Batalov.

The "Caucasian Knot" has also reported that the defence stated that after detention, three residents of the Naur District had been tortured; they were forced to incriminate themselves by admitting to creating an armed grouping and swearing an oath to the leader of a terrorist organization.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.