Rights defenders find Andzor Kudaev's torture statement convincing

The application made by Andzor Kudaev, a convicted entrepreneur from the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) that his confession was obtained under torture is credible, human rights defenders have pointed out, noting that courts are trying to ignore applications about torturing the defendants.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 27, the Russian Supreme Court (SC) denied the appeal complaint against Andzor Kudaev's verdict, who was sentenced to six years in penal colony on charges of aiding terrorism and weapon possession.

Kudaev's torture application was hardly fictitious, Svetlana Gannushkina*, the head of the "Civic Assistance" Committee*, believes.

An activist of the "Memorial" Centre for Human Rights Defence**, has also expressed confidence that Kudaev had been tortured. According to his version, courts try to ignore the defendants' statements about torture.

Courts usually ignore defendants' statements that confessions were obtained under torture, Ms Gannushkina* has confirmed.

Evgeny Smirnov, an advocate, has added that in practice, the conditional early relief (CER or parole) is very rarely applied to those convicted under terrorist articles.

He has added regarding torture applications that courts can consider the testimony to be true only if a criminal case was opened on the fact of beatings.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.

**As reported on the website of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the reason for including on March 1, 2024, the unregistered "Memorial" Centre for Human Rights Defence (CHRD) into the roster of foreign agents was the spread of "inaccurate information aimed at creating a negative image of the Russian Federation, as well as the Russian Armed Forces."