Advocates of Magamadov and Isaev petition on transfer of the trial from Chechnya

The preliminary hearing of the criminal case initiated against the brothers, Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev was held at the Achkhoi-Martan District Court, the "SK SOS" Crisis Group has reported. The advocates lodged a motion asking to transfer the trial to a court of another region, because no objective consideration of the case is possible in Chechnya.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that back in early February, law enforcers took 20-year-old Salekh Magamadov and his brother Ismail, who was a minor at that time, away from Nizhny Novgorod. At a court hearing held in the absence of advocates and the parents of the young men, the court ordered them to be taken into custody. In March 2021, the brothers filed a complaint to the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) about beatings and torture after their detentions in both 2020 and 2021. When advocate visited the brothers, the young men said they had been forced to sign fabricated confessions.

On October 12, the first preliminary hearing of the criminal case against the brothers, Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev was held at the Achkhoi-Martan District Court. The advocates cooperating with the "SK SOS" Crisis Group (a new project of the former emergency team of the "Russian LGBT Network"*) have filed a motion asking to transfer the hearing of the case to a court in another Russian region, since, in their opinion, the case in Chechnya cannot be considered objectively and impartially, the Group has stated.

The motion mentions the circumstances of the brothers' kidnapping, the non-admission of advocates to them during their detention, the threats of "honour killings" from their relatives, as well as the fact that the Achkhoi-Martan District Court had earlier extended the brothers' custody term.

The court has accepted the defence's arguments. The transfer of the trial will now be considered by the Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya.

*By the decision of the Russia's Ministry of Justice, the organization has been put on the register of NGOs performing the functions of a foreign agent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 13, 2021 at 05:29 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.