Circassian activist Martin Kochesoko challenges verdict

A complaint against the verdict to Martin Kochesoko, a Circassian activist, convicted for drug possession, has been lodged to the Supreme Court (SC) of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), his advocated has informed.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 2, a KBR court sentenced Kochesoko to three years of conditional imprisonment. The activist insists on his innocence. The criminal prosecution of Kochesoko is a demonstrative execution, Valery Khatazhukov, a human rights activist, and Maxim Shevchenko, a journalist, have stated. The prosecutor's office asked for a conditional sentence for Kochesoko, because the accusation had collapsed, but the court had to fulfil the received political order and did not dare to acquit the activist, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial"* has stated.

There are three possible decisions on the above Kochesoko's complaint: "to leave the verdict unchanged; to return the case for a new consideration; and to cancel the first instance's verdict and pass the SC's one – that is an acquittal," said Mukhadin Kardanov, an advocate. He believes that the option of imposing a more severe punishment within the framework of the appeal consideration is hardly possible.

* the HRC "Memorial" is recognized in the Russian Federation as a foreign agent