29 August 2018, 08:18
Testimonies of two law enforcers give arguments to Titiev's defence
Two of four prosecution witnesses, questioned today at the trial of Oyub Titiev, the head of the Grozny representative office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", gave truthful answers to defence's questions, advocate Pyotr Zaikin said.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Shali City Court is considering Oyub Titiev's case since July 19 this year.
Oyub Titiev is under arrest since January 11 on charges of possessing marijuana. He insists that the drug had been planted on him by a law enforcer.
The testimonies of today's witnesses will help to defend Oyub Titiev, advocate Pyotr Zaikin told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
"Today, there were two interesting interrogations: two prosecution witnesses unexpectedly gave truthful answers to us, apparently they failed to instruct them in advance. One of them did not deny that they had a line-up in the uniform with strips of the GBR (fast-reaction team), which means that employees of the Kurchaloi ROVD (District Interior Division) have such uniform and put it on from time to time. Before that, all the witnesses denied the existence of a GBR and the uniform with GBR stripes – they insisted that they only wear blue camouflage, which is given out to all employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA)," said the advocate.
The Titiev's advocates put such questions to witnesses about policemen's uniform and equipment, as they try to clear out who exactly detained Titiev. According to Oyub himself, the law enforcers, who detained him and brought to the Kurchaloi ROVD, were in the uniform with the stripes (emblems) of the GBR (fast-reaction team).
The mission of the numerous policemen-witnesses, summoned by the prosecution to the trial, is to prove that they do not wear any green uniform and GBR stripes. This should prove the falsity of Titiev's statements; however, social networks have photos of these policemen in green camouflage with GBR stripes, the HRC "Memorial" has told the "Caucasian Knot" today.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 28, 2018 at 20:50 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Patimat Makhmudova Source: CK correspondent