In Chechnya, investigators 10 times refused to open Khasan Islamov's torture case

By using torture, law enforcers have forced Khasan Islamov, a resident of Chechnya, to confess to organizing an illegal armed formation (IAF). The court sentenced him to 6.5 years in colony by ignoring Islamov's statements about torture and his innocence. Investigators issued 10 rulings to refuse to open a criminal case, the "Team Against Torture"* has reported.

In September 2019, Khasan Islamov's mother reported that on February 3, 2019, law enforcers detained her three sons: Khasan, Khussein and Kharon. Khussein and Kharon were released almost immediately, while Khasan was left in custody. He said that after the detention, two law enforcement officers beat him up with their hands, feet and a truncheon, demanding to sign a confession that he had planned an attack on law enforcers, the "Team Against Torture"* has reported.

Later, Islamov, according to his story, was beaten with a hose and tortured with electric current for about five hours. Then he was kept in some garage for two months; and he spent one night standing, handcuffed by the hand to a pipe. His friend was with him, who was also forced to confess to participation in an IAF.

In Chechnya and other regions of Russia, the practice of investigators' avoiding responsibility is widespread, especially in cases of torture, human rights defenders assert in their comments on a similar case of the Chechen actor Timur Debishev. He is trying to bring law enforcers to justice for torture, but due to investigators' actions, he cannot achieve the consideration of his complaint in court.

In 2018, Debishev claimed that he had been tortured by law enforcers. According to his version, law enforcers found his phone number among the contacts of some person suspected of drug dealing; they tortured him with electric shocks and beat him up, demanding to give up drug addicts he knew. Investigators repeatedly refused to initiate a criminal case on Debishev's application.