22:28, 1 August 2018

Chechen SC refuses to examine Ramzan Kadyrov's statements about Oyub Titiev

Oyub Titiev. Photo by the press service of the Human Rights Centre "Memorial"

Today, the board of the Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya has dismissed the complaint filed by the defence of Oyub Titiev, the head of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" in Grozny, about the Court's refusal to transfer the trial to another region. The Court has also refused the advocates in viewing the video of the Chechen leader's speeches criticizing Oyub Titiev and judges.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 5, the Supreme Court of Chechnya dismissed the motion of the Oyub Titiev's defence to change the territorial jurisdiction of the case and extended the arrest to the rights defender until July 25. The decision was challenged.

Since January 11, Oyub Titiev is under arrest on charges of possessing marijuana. He refuses to plead guilty asserting that the drug was planted on him by a law enforcer. According to his advocates, the case must be considered outside of Chechnya, as the republic's leadership has repeatedly insisted on Oyub Titiev's guilt.

Today, the Supreme Court of Chechnya has considered an appeal filed against the decision to refuse to change the territorial jurisdiction of the Oyub Titiev's case.

The advocates filed a motion to examine the video record with the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov's speech about Oyub Titiev, which had earlier been dismissed. The Court dismissed the motion and declared the video record was irrelevant.

Advocate Novikov has also appealed to the Court with a request to examine a record of the ChGTRK (Chechen State Radio and TV Company) "Grozny" entitled "Ramzan Kadyrov sharply criticizes judges of regional SC". "These are objective facts confirming that Ramzan Kadyrov believes he has the right to influence judges," advocate Novikov stated.

The Court has pronounced the decision to refuse to study the video, since it is allegedly not relevant to the essence of the case, the HRC "Memorial" reports.

The board of the Chechen SC has also pronounced the decision to leave unchanged the resolution of July 5 on the territorial jurisdiction of the Oyub Titiev's case and to dismiss the advocates' complaints.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 1, 2018 at 06:28 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.