AI recognizes Ruslan Kutaev as "prisoner of conscience"

The international human rights organization "Amnesty International" (AI) has recognized Ruslan Kutaev, President of the Assembly of Peoples of the Caucasus, a "prisoner of conscience". Furthermore, the AI has asked its supporters around the world to call on the Russian authorities to immediately release Ruslan Kutaev.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 7, the Urus-Martan District Court of Chechnya sentenced Ruslan Kutaev to four years imprisonment on charge of drug possession. The verdict against Ruslan Kutaev will be challenged. This was stated by Pyotr Zaikin, an advocate of the human rights defender.

The AI believes the trial in the case against Ruslan Kutaev was marked by "numerous inconsistencies in the testimonies given by prosecution witnesses" and "disregard for the evidence presented by the defence."

The AI has associated the criminal proceedings against Ruslan Kutaev with the fact that on February 18, during the scientific conference "The deportation of the Chechen people. What it was and whether it is possible to forget?", the human rights defender criticized the position of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who prohibited holding on February 23 the memorial events to mark the date of the beginning of the deportation of the Chechen and Ingush peoples.

Let us remind you that earlier, Ruslan Kutaev has been recognized as a political prisoner by the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".