Head of Chechen "Memorial" Oyub Titiev sentenced to four years of imprisonment

The testimonies of the defence witnesses positively characterize Oyub Titiev, the head of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" office in Chechnya, but do not acquit him in possession of drugs, the court has decided. The human rights defender has been sentenced to four years of imprisonment.

It took about ten hours from the judge to read out the verdict. The judge decided that Oyub Titiev committed a crime of moderate severity. The sentence was made in view of mitigating circumstances, such as the facts that Oyub Titiev had no earlier criminal records and he did not intend to sell the drugs that he allegedly stored.

The judge has decided the defence testimony stating that Oyub Titiev does not smoke, does not drink alcoholic beverages, and is engaged in sports, does not acquit him, since he was accused not of using, but only of storing drugs.

The judge considered the examination of the main evidence as reasonable, despite the criticism.

The public resonance will positively affect the reputation of Oyub Titiev, believes advocate Ilya Novikov. Prior to the sentence pronounced to Oyub Titiev, the HRC "Memorial" presented 10 facts that testified to the falsification of the criminal case.

Oyub Titiev and his defence insist that the drugs were planted to the human rights defender.