Relatives of defendants in “prison jamaat” case claim violation of detainees’ rights at Taganrog SIZO

After the hostage-taking at a SIZO (pre-trial prison) in Rostov-on-Don, relatives lost contact with natives of Dagestan Bashir Dibirasulaev and Kurban-Ismail Mutairov, involved in the “prison jamaat” case as defendants. Law enforcers took Bashir Dibirasulaev and Kurban-Ismail Mutairov to a SIZO in Taganrog and refuse to let them being visited by advocates, their relatives complained.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on June 16, prisoners at the SIZO in Rostov-on-Don took several warders hostage. Law enforcers killed the hostage-takers and freed the hostages. After that, prisoners in penal colonies in Southern Russia began to complain about violations of their rights because of tightened penal colony regime. In particular, on July 17, relatives of Dagestani native Magomed Khanilaev, involved in the “prison jamaat” case as a defendant, complained that they had lost contact with him.

On June 22, law enforcers took Kurban-Ismail Mutairov from his cell at the SIZO in Rostov-on-Don, where he was being kept, explaining that they were taking him for an interrogation. Since then, neither the relatives nor the advocate of Kurban-Ismail Mutairov have been able to contact him, a source reports.

The advocate failed to visit Kurban-Ismail Mutairov, since the defendant allegedly refused the defender’s services. And when family members tried to visit Kurban-Ismail Mutairov, they were informed that he was placed to a punishment cell.

Naida Bektemirova, a wife of Bashir Dibirasulaev, a defendant in the “prison jamaat” case, said that on June 24, her husband was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment for aiding and abetting terrorist activities.

The woman emphasized that she had approached the SIZO administration three times with requests to get a permission to visit her husband at the SIZO. Naida Bektemirova was refused under the pretext that her husband was placed to a punishment cell.

“He was accused of being the imam of the jamaat. In fact, they simply lived separately from other prisoners. They were praying, reading the Koran, and were not promoting any radical ideas,” Naida Bektemirova explained.

What is happening to Kurban-Ismail Mutairov and Bashir Dibirasulaev is a violation, but it is very difficult to prove, notes lawyer Mikhail Benyash*. He explains that if a detained person refuses advocate’s services not of his or her own free will, then this should be considered pressure on the detainee.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.