Oyub Titiev reports records of hypocrisy and cynicism in his case

Advocates requested the court to acquit Oyub Titiev, the head of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" office in Grozny. The defence stated that the case was fabricated and connected with his human rights activities. Oyub Titiev himself said that the trial "broke a record of hypocrisy and cynicism."

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 21, the Shali City Court finalized the judicial investigation into the case of Oyub Titiev; on March 11, the prosecutor asked for him four years in prison and a fine for him.

On March 11, the pleadings in court in the case against Oyub Titiev were attended by members of various international human rights organizations, diplomats, and journalists from Russian and foreign publications attended the court hearing.

According to Marina Dubrovina, an advocate of Oyub Titiev, the defendant and the defence state that drugs were planted to the rights defender's car and all the subsequent criminal prosecution was connected with his activities in the human rights organization "Memorial" in Chechnya, where Oyub Titiev has been working for 17 years. The advocate has also added that during all that time, Oyub Titiev received threats from the law enforcement bodies and the authorities of the republic.

Marina Dubrovina noted that the witnesses for the prosecution questioned in court had not confirmed the guilt of her client.

On the same day, Oyub Titiev delivered his final speech.

Oyub Titiev believes that the trial "broke a record of hypocrisy and cynicism."

The defendant noted that many mistakes were made during the falsification of the case and there were attempts to forge his signature. He promised to find out the names of all persons involved in the falsification.

"The case was fabricated within 25 days. Then it was taken from the police and transferred to the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF). And then an ICRF's investigator was correcting the mistakes in the case within four months. And now, for eight months, the Prosecutor's Office has been pouring this dirt on me," said Oyub Titiev.

The rights defender suggested that the court would pronounce the verdict of guilty.

"I have no illusions about the verdict. The court will pronounce the verdict of guilty. In recent years, the portion of acquittals is 0.2 percent. This indicates the full control of the Prosecutor's Office over the judicial system," Oyub Titiev noted.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 12, 2019 at 05:28 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.