Resident of Dagestan reports torture applied to his son

Murad Gasanov, a resident of the Dagestani city of Izberbash, has addressed the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" and complained that his son Zaur was illegally detained and tortured by power agents.

On September 1, Murad Gasanov said that on August 27 in Stavropol, at No. 99 Nevelskiy Street, he and his sons Zaur, born in 1988, and Kamilpasha, born in 1993, were busy with decoration works in some premise. At about the midday, eight persons in camouflage and civilian clothes and wearing masks broke into the room. They did not present themselves, showed no IDs, but presented some handwritten document.

According to Gasanov, the document said that his son Zaur, took part, together with some Magomed Abdusalamov, in the attempt on policemen on August 5, 2011, in Izberbash, after which two policemen died. This became the basis for a search of the premises in Nevelskiy Street. The agents found nothing and took all the three Gasanovs to the police station in the vicinity of Lenin Street in Stavropol. There, they were placed in different rooms. Murad wrote an explanatory note about where his son Zaur had been on the night, when policemen were murdered.

Some time later, Murad was released. According to his story, he waited for his sons till 10:00 p.m.; then, his son Kamilpasha called and said that he was also released and was in the Victory Park. When Murad came there to pick up his son, he saw that Kamilpasha was severely beaten. He said that agents in civilian clothes took him out of the city, beat and threw away into some ditch.

On September 1, the Gasanovs invited Murat Magomedov, a lawyer from the Bar "Kavkaz", to defend Zaur's interests. Magomedov learnt that his client was convoyed from Stavropol to Makhachkala and then to Izberbash.

According to Murad Gasanov, Magomedov said after meeting Zaur that his client had been severely tortured and beaten up: he had haematomas on his back and traces of torture with electric current on his fingers and burns on his palms. Zaur told him that he was tortured and beaten in Stavropol, in Makhachkala and in Izberbash. Power agents pressed him and forced him to confess on killing policemen in Izberbash.

Zaur told the lawyer that he could not stand the violence and confirmed his participation in the murder, thus, making self-incrimination. According to his story, on August 5, when policemen were attacked, he was at home in Izberbash, which can be confirmed by several witnesses.

The members of the Gasanov family fear that Zaur may be forced to reject lawyer Magomedov, which will facilitate fabrication of a criminal case against him. Murad Gasanov has turned to the HRC "Memorial" for help in defending his son's rights.

So far, the "Caucasian Knot" has no comments of law enforcement bodies on the information reported by Murad Gasanov.