Human rights icon Oyub Titiev, convicted in March on dubious drug charges, to be released on parole

In Chechnya, the Shalinsky City Court has approved a defense petition to allow Oyub Titiev to be released on parole in 10 days. Titiev, who leads the Chechen branch of the human rights organization Memorial, was arrested in January 2018 when police said they found 200 grams of marijuana in his car. Titiev argued that the drugs were planted, but in March 2019, a court sentenced him to four years in a prison colony.

Human rights advocates have argued from the beginning of Titiev’s case that the charges against him were politically motivated, and the proceedings against him included a number of odd circumstances.