At the trial of human rights activist Boliev in Dagestan, the judge appears to favor the prosecution, defense attorney states

Today, on April 10, in Khasavyurt, Dagestan, at the trial of human rights activist Osman Boliev, accused of keeping, purchasing and carrying arms, the court will proceed to interrogate witnesses for the defense. This is as reported by attorney for the defense Salimat Kadyrova in a telephone conversation with CK correspondent Vyacheslav Feraposhkin.

On the court session on April 7, prosecution finished presenting its evidence. Two witnesses for the prosecution had been questioned: investigator of Khasavyurt City police (GOVD) Bulat Dadaev who was conducting investigation into Boliev's case and - for the second time, due to the petition of prosecution - captain of the criminal search agency of Dagestan Interior Ministry mobile unit Konstantin Novitsky who participated in the detention of the accused on November 15, last year.

In his testimony the investigator Dadaev frequently answered "I do not remember" on many important questions of the defense counsel.

The defense attorney said "I asked why there was no dactyloscopic examination of fingerprints on the hand grenade allegedly found in Boliev's jacket. The judge interjected instead of Dadaev: "it's up to him whether to conduct dactyloscopic examination or not." The judge appeared to be trying to create obstacles for the defense. When attorneys for the defense were asking questions central to the veracity of the prosecution's case, the judge was interfering, making comments that could lead the witness to the "proper" answers".

Witness for the prosecution captain Konstantion Novitsky, who was recalled to testify for the second time on prosecution initiative, changed his testimony. He formerly said that during the investigation into the Boliev's case he had been interrogated by "the girl with long hair". This time he stated that the interrogation was conducted by Dadaev, and the girl was only taking photos of it. He also admitted that the signature on the intrerrogation report was possibly not his. In the previous court session he had insisted that it was his signature. Novitsky substantiated his testimony given earlier that he was not present at the personal search of Boliev on November 15 in Khasavyurt City police station when a hand grenade had been found, however in the report of the personal search of the detainee, the same prosecution witness is mentioned as being present.

"The reports of interrogations of civilian police search observers and policemen Vitaly Shamber and Konstantion Novitsky are identical in every detail, even to the extent of identical punctuation, suggesting there was collusion rather than independent testimony. Possibly the interrogator had prepared the texts himself, and asked the civilian observers to sign them. "What about Shamber and Novitsky, they most probably, had not even signed the reports, as the signatures do not correspond to their signatures on the other documents. On April 7, I petitioned to examine the authenticity of the signatures of V.Shamber and K.Novitsky on the prosecution documents" Salimat Kadirova said to CK correspondent.

The criminal case against the head of the activist group "Camomile," Osman Boliev, resident of Khasavyurt, had been taken up by the court again on March 16, after a monthly break for the purpose of medical treatment of the defendant. Earlier on February 13 Osman Boliev had been released from custody following a petition of the defense. Sergey Brovchenko, a Moscow attorney for the defendant, believes that the human rights activist had been held in custody illegally.

Osman Boliev had been detained on November 15, 2005 by officers of the Dagestan Motor Licensing and Inspection Department under the pretext of checking his automobile as possibly one reported as stolen. Subsequently on the way to the Khasavyurt police station Boliev's car was stopped by the agents of the mobile criminal investigation unit of the Russian Federation Ministry of Internal Affairs. Boliev was handed over to policemen; he was then handcuffed and a bag was put over his head preventing him from seeing where he was being taken. At the Khasavyurt Department of Internal Affairs he stated he was tortured for some hours. Then he had been searched and a disassembled hand grenade was "discovered."

There were also attempts to accuse Boliev of participation in an illegal armed group. On the very next day after the detention, on November 16, 2005, it was reported in Dagestan media that an active member of illegal armed group O.Boliev was seized and that according to the information of the law enforcement agencies he was a member of Abdulsheikhov's group. Abdulsheikhov was reported to be killed in Moscow in 2003 during the hostage-taking in Nord-Ost Theatre. The information was released by the Dagestan Information Agency, reported with reference to the press service of the Dagestan Interior Ministry. It was also reported that security agencies have information about participation of the "fighter" in illegal armed activity in Chechnya and that "a hand grenade RGD-5 with a fusion was found and confiscated from him".

Other inconsistencies in the prosecution case, according to a statement of the Public Verdict Foundation: "The personal search was conducted at Khasavyurt City police station rather than at the location his motor vehicle was stopped. This means that Boliev, while following the vehicle of the Motor Licensing and Inspection Department agents in his car, could easily have gotten rid of the hand grenade, but had not done so" the statement of Public Verdict Foundation says. Second, documents presented to the prosecution to open the criminal case lacked the description of the hand grenade. Third, the documents presented to the prosecution lacked the reports of the civilian observers who were present at the personal search of Boliev (these reports were produced only several days later). Fourth, these documents lacked lawful justification for administrative detention".

Some experts believe the main reason for Boliev's detention and criminal charges are his human rights activities through his leadership of the non-profit organization Camomile. Camomile is the initiator of a widely known criminal investigation regarding the abduction of local resident Jaraly Israilov by agents of the Hasavjurt GOVD in Dagestan on October 19, 2004. Together with the Director of the International Commission of Lawyers, the legal expert of the Center of Assistance to the International Defense Karina Moskalenko, Boliev has filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights. Boliev has also made public the facts of the murder of a 6-year old girl Abdurashitova Summaya by officers of Dagestan law enforcement agencies during special actions attempting seizure of those suspected of criminal activities. She was killed from a ricochet of a large-caliber shell while in her bed on March 14, 2005 in the locality of Solnechnoye, Hasavjurt region. This complaint has also been filed in the European Court. The human rights center Memorial declared on March 16 that the "criminal prosecution of Osman Boliev has distinctly expressed political grounds".