In Moscow, a judge kicked out spectators from the trial of student Ragimov, who said that he was tortured by SOBR soldiers

In the Tushinsky District Court of Moscow, Judge Elena Orlova interrupted the hearing in the case of student Murad Ragimov, accused of possession of spice, and expelled all his acquaintances and relatives from the courtroom, writes . Novaya Gazeta

As the sister of the accused, Gunay Rahimova, told the publication, the reason for this was the reaction of one of the spectators, who shrugged his shoulders when the judge rejected another defense motion for the fifth time in a row.

“After that, we were all ordered to “get up and get out.” We left the courtroom, but refused to leave the court. They asked to call an ambulance for Murad because he complained of cold sweat and palpitations. For two days in a row he was brought to court at five in the morning and taken away by nightfall. The bailiffs refused to call an ambulance, but they called the police to us,” said Ragimova.

According to her, when everyone was kicked out, Murad Ragimov asked for a break to take a pill. “He didn’t feel any better after the break. He says that at that time he had not slept for 36 hours. The judge and prosecutor decided to postpone the hearing until December 5, added Ragimov’s lawyer Mikhail Karplyuk.

As Novaya Gazeta notes, after the incident, Ragimov’s mother also felt unwell and was taken by ambulance to the hospital.

At the end of August 2016, Moscow SOBR officers burst into the apartment of medical student Murad Ragimov. According to his parents, during the search the police beat the young man, suffocated him with a plastic bag and used a stun gun. After this, Murad was taken to the police on suspicion of possession of spice (Part 2 of Article 228 of the Criminal Code); he soon required urgent hospitalization.

Since September last year, Murad has been kept in Moscow pre-trial detention center No. 3. “Mediazona” spoke in detail about the visit of security forces to Ragimov and that investigators repeatedly refused to open a case of torture: they were not convinced by either the medical examination or the polygraph test passed by Ragimov’s relatives.

The investigators found the explanations from the security forces sufficient, saying that the student allegedly attacked “a SOBR officer with a large shield” and knocked down a cabinet with a mirror in the hallway. The mirror broke, and Ragimov “cut himself with sharp fragments.” At the same time, in the photographs taken during the search, the cabinet is in place, no fragments are visible, and the mirror is intact.