Titiev calls prosecution witnesses' testimonies at trial false

The policemen, interrogated on September 27 behind closed doors at Oyub Titiev's trial, failed to tell the court anything significant. Human rights defenders, who were present at the court session, criticized the court's decision to close the trial of Titiev's case.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 27, at the Shali City Court, the interrogation of witnesses in the case of Oyub Titiev, the head of the Grozny office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", took place in the closed mode. Then, the court decided to continue the open trial.

Two witnesses were questioned behind closed doors. According to Titiev's defence, they did not tell the court anything essential; and their testimonies were built on the words "I don't remember," "I don't know," "I can't say."

Oyub Titiev himself has treated the testimonies of the key witnesses, interrogated in closed mode, as false.

"50 prosecution witnesses have lied here; they told nothing but lie. The key witnesses did the same – they lied. There were absolutely no people here who spoke the truth," Oyub Titiev told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent during the break.

Elena Milashina, a "Novaya Gazeta" journalist, and Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, the director of the Centre for Conflict Analysis and Prevention, who were present at the court session, criticized the court's decision to close the trial of Titiev's case.

Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya believes that the trial was closed without due grounds. "There were no legal grounds to run it closed; a gross violation of the publicity of the court proceedings was committed. I believe that the trial was closed because testimonies of witnesses from among policeman were often so stupid, contradictory and sometimes absurd that the court, understanding the high attention that the trial attracts, decided to make it closed," the human rights defender told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Ms Sokiryanskaya has also noted that the campaign in defence of Oyub Titiev "will continue until the innocent man, persecuted for his human rights work, is released."

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 27, 2018 at 10:27 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.