"Mediazona": Chechen theatre actor accuses law enforcers of torture

In Grozny, law enforcers tortured artists of the theatre and the "Nokhcho" Chechen folklore ensemble, having suspected them of drug dealing. One of the victims, Timur Debishev, is seeking for criminal prosecution of law enforcers, the "Mediazona" reports.

The 27-year-old actor of the Grozny Lermontov Russian Drama Theatre, Timur Debishev, has appealed to the "Committee against Torture" (CaT) after being detained in November 2018. The reason for his detention was his acquaintance with a girl whom law enforcers had suspected of spreading narcotic substances.

They demanded from Debishev to tell about the residents of Chechnya, known to him, who use drugs, but he refused. After a brutal beating, the young man agreed to show the house of his friend Tamerlan Amaev, a dancer of the "Nokhcho" state folklore ensemble of song and dance.

Amaev was beaten up in front of his friend; and Debishev himself was tortured with electricity and strangled with a plastic bag. Timur made a false confession: he said that pills of a strong drug were in his apartment.

However, law enforcers found no drug in Debishev's apartment and again tortured him: they beat him up with a plastic pipe, beat his head against the floor and jumped on his head until they were tired. He was released on the following day.