HRC "Memorial" recognizes Oyub Titiev as a political prisoner

Today, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" has announced that Oyub Titiev is being prosecuted because of his human rights activities and demanded to release him.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that since January 11, Oyub Titiev, the head of the Grozny office of the HRC "Memorial", is being kept in custody on the charge of marijuana possession. The rights defender has rejected the accusation and said that the drugs were planted to him by law enforcers.

The circumstances of the criminal prosecution "suggest that Oyub Titiev was imprisoned to stop his non-violent public activities aimed at protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms," the press service of the HRC "Memorial" has reported today.

"Meanwhile, the deprivation of liberty was used in violation of the right to a fair trial and other rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and it was based on the falsification of evidence of the alleged crime," announces the HRC's press release available to the "Caucasian Knot".

The HRC "Memorial" treats Oyub Titiev as a political prisoner, the press release emphasizes. "We demand to immediately release him and institute criminal proceedings against the persons involved in the fabrication of the criminal case against him," the rights defenders stated.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.