Extension of arrest for Ukrainians accused of killing soldiers in Chechnya upheld

The Supreme Court of Chechnya upheld the decision to extend the arrest for three months for Nikolai Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh, Ukrainian citizens accused of participating in hostilities and killing Russian servicemen in Chechnya in the 1990s.

Lawyer Dokka Itslayev, representing Karpyuk, stated during the meeting that the court of first instance, when deciding to extend the arrest, did not provide evidence of the defendants' involvement in the crimes they are charged with, Radio Liberty correspondent Anton Naumlyuk writes on . Facebook

At present, there has been a pause in the consideration of the case on the merits - Judge Vahid Ismailov suddenly fell ill, and this became known immediately before the meeting, which was attended by relatives of the accused.

The lawyer Marina Dubrovina, who represents the interests of Klykh, is concerned about his condition: she has already demanded to provide her with information about the drugs that he is given. Eyewitnesses report that Klykh screams and behaves violently in the courtroom. It was the same at the meeting on March 17, writes on Facebook. Hromadske Radio correspondent Irina Romaliyskaya

At the same time, the hall that day was filled with some young people who said that they were invited by the judge, and called themselves students or representatives of public organizations.

Both defendants wrote confessions during the investigation, but then retracted them, saying that they were given under torture. In court, they claimed that they had never been to Chechnya before they were brought to the court.