17 April 2006, 17:02
Trial of human rights activist Boliev: police-witnesses did not appear, court session postponed
On April 17, in Khasavyurt, Dagestan, at the trial of human rights activist Osman Boliev, accused of keeping, purchasing and carrying arms, the scheduled court session did not take place, attorney for the defense Salimat Kadyrova reported to CK correspondent Vyacheslav Feraposhkin in a telephone conversation.
"It was intended that questioning of the witnesses on behalf of the defense would start today,' an attorney for the defense said. The session was canceled because of the absence of the witnesses; two officers of the Khasavyurt City police, an agent of the Motor Licensing and Inspection Department, who escorted Boliev from his home to the police station on November 15, the day he was detained, and a policeman who was on duty that day.
It was also expected that City Police (GOVD) books where all the crimes and records of detained persons are registered would be produced to the court. "We wished to check the time of Boliev's detention and the time when a hand grenade was reported to have been found and confiscated from him," the attorney for the defense said. "We have also asked the court to inquire of the Office of Prosecutor on the results of the investigation of the person who had allegedly provided Boliev with a hand grenade."
The court waited for the witnesses for more then two hours, then postponed. The next session is scheduled for April, 19.
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.
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 Khasavjurt 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".
