14:14, 14 February 2019

ICRF refuses to question Dagestani leader in case on Gasanguseinov brothers' murder

Vladimir Vasilev, Murtazali Gasanguseinov. Photo: https://derbrayon.ru/news/obshestvo/glavoj-rd-izbran-vladimir-vasil-ev, Patimat Makhmudova. Collage made by the Caucasian Knot

An investigator found no grounds for questioning as a witness Dagestani leader Vladimir Vasiliev, who said that the Gasanguseinov brothers had been killed by a tragic mistake. The investigator's decision will be challenged, the Committee against Torture (CaT) reports today.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in an interview published on January 26, Vladimir Vasiliev voiced the opinion that the Gasanguseinov brothers were killed because of a tragic mistake, and not as a result of malicious intent. The Vladimir Vasilev's statement provoked a negative reaction in social networks, and rights defenders demanded to question the leader of Dagestan in the case on the Gasanguseinov brothers' murder.

On August 23, 2016, the 17-year-old and 19-year-old sons of Murtazali Gasanguseinov from the village of Goor-Khindakh were killed in the Shamil District. Law enforcers declared that the brothers were militants; however, the brothers' fellow villagers insisted that they had nothing to do with militants.

The senior investigator for particularly important cases under the chairman of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) refused to question Dagestani leader Vladimir Vasiliev, the CaT reports today. "At present, there are no grounds for questioning as a witness V.A. Vasiliev, the leader of the Republic of Dagestan, whose interview contains no information about his awareness of the circumstances of the crime committed," the CaT quotes on its website the investigator as reporting.

Abubakar Yangulbaev, a CaT's lawyer, representing the interests of the Gasanguseinov brothers' father, said he did not agree with the decision, the rights defenders note. "In his interview for the newspaper "Novoye Delo" (New Case), Vladimir Vasiliev directly states: 'I examined the case.' After that, he refers to several facts of the case that were not publicly known earlier. We believe the investigator needs to clarify how exactly Vladimir Vasiliev examined the criminal case, to understand the sources of his awareness, and not just to say without justification that Vladimir Vasiliev does not know anything," the lawyer said.

He has also announced the intention to challenge the ICRF's decision.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 14, 2019 at 10:28 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.