Rights defenders treat decision to release Oyub Titiev as fair

The colony administration and the Prosecutor's Office (PO) did not object to the release of Oyub Titiev, the head of the Grozny branch of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", under the conditional early relief (CER); there are no grounds to appeal against this decision, his colleagues and the advocate have stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 18, 2019, Oyub Titiev was sentenced to four years in prison on charges of drug possession. On June 10, the court has granted the petition for his CER.

The PO has ten days to appeal against the Titiev's CER, but the PO was not against his release, said Oleg Orlov, the head of the "Hot Spots" programme of the HRC "Memorial", noting that Titiev refused to plead guilty.

In the opinion of Pyotr Zaikin, a Titiev's advocate, the PO's loyal attitude to Titiev is caused by the "respectful treatment of elders."

The public outcry around Titiev's case is extremely important, said Dmitry Muratov, the former editor-in-chief of the "Novaya Gazeta".

Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of Chechnya, has reacted to the decision to release the head of the Grozny "Memorial". "The punishment should serve as a correction tool ... If the court has found it reasonable to free Titiev before his term, I am sure that an objective decision has been made," Kadyrov wrote in his Telegram channel.