21:17, 18 March 2023

Transfer of Visaev's case to Khabarovsk creates problems for his relatives

Apti Visaev. Photo by the press service of the Human Rights Protection Centre "Memorial" * included in the register of the foreign agents

The case of Apti Visaev, a native of Chechnya, who is accused of plotting a terror act, has been transferred from Krasnoyarsk to the military court in Khabarovsk, his wife has informed and complained that paying for advocates' travels to the trial would hurt the family's budget.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in August 2021, Aisha Mutaeva, the wife of the 36-year-old Apti Visaev, reported that investigators were putting pressure on him. In December, Visaev said that, without explanations, he was transferred to a special block of the SIZO (pre-trial prison), where he received no medical care he needed in full.

In April 2021, Visaev went to Pyatigorsk with his wife and five children, where the family planned to stay to treat Apti and their two children. There, Visaev was arrested on charges of aiding and abetting terrorism. The criminal case against him is based on the testimony of two secret witnesses. According to investigators, Visaev had persuaded one of them to blow himself up at the May 9 parade in Norilsk.

The consideration of Apti Visaev's case was transferred to the court of Khabarovsk, although earlier the trial was held at a Krasnoyarsk court. According to Aisha Mutaeva, her husband was transferred to another region "unexpectedly and without explanations," the "Kavkaz.Realii"* project reports.

According to Mutaeva, the consideration of the case in Khabarovsk will make the family's financial situation difficult due to the need to pay the advocates travels, since the distance from Krasnoyarsk to Khabarovsk is 4200 kilometres.

Aisha Mutaeva has also stated that the Krasnoyarsk court had regularly rejected the defence's petitions to transfer Apti Visaev to house arrest, the "Dosh" magazine has written.

The prosecution of Visaev is due to the fact that he had been earlier convicted of involvement in Chechen militants, Igor Kalyapin and Oyub Titiev, human rights defenders, believe.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 17, 2023 at 02:56 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.