In Chechnya, an investigator unexpectedly canceled investigative actions after a statement from a lawyer

The investigator in the case of the head of the Grozny Memorial, Oyub Titiev, suddenly canceled the investigative actions that he had previously insisted on. Yesterday, a lawyer announced a possible provocation against him. Novaya Gazetareports this.

Lawyer Pyotr Zaikin, representing Titiev’s interests, told Novaya Gazeta yesterday that the investigator insisted on carrying out some investigative actions this morning, sending the lawyer an ultimatum SMS: “Tomorrow we need you at the investigative action. In the morning"". Zaikin at that moment was at the entrance to the border with Dagestan - he was heading to the Makhachkala airport to fly to Moscow. According to him, a car, presumably with fake license plates, relentlessly followed him all the way.

Today the investigator announced that there would be no investigative actions due to the failure of the prosecution witness to appear.

Zaikin first noticed himself being followed on January 17th. In an interview with Novaya, he shared his fears that the Chechen security forces could arrange a provocation against him - planting drugs or weapons.

On January 19, the Grozny Memorial office was searched, during which police found cigarette butts that looked like cigarettes that had been gutted and then filled with something, as well as an energy drink can filled with ash. At the same time, none of the Memorial employees smoke, and journalists who smoke do so exclusively on the balcony, putting cigarette butts in paper envelopes and not in an ashtray.

On January 18, security forces also came to the owner of the premises rented by Memorial. They demanded to open the door to the Memorial office and convinced the woman that “she was wrong” because she had rented out the office to human rights activists.

• The head of the Grozny Memorial, Oyub Titiev, was detained on the morning of January 9. The next day, the police kicked Titiev’s relatives out of the house. They were looking for his son and brother and threatened the human rights activist's relatives with trouble. On the evening of the same day, Titiev was accused of drug possession - a bag of prohibited substances was allegedly found in his car.
• On January 11, the court arrested the head of Memorial for two months. Mediazona published a transcript of the meeting.
• On January 11, human rights organizations the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, FIDH and the World Organization Against Torture issued a joint statement. They demanded that the Russian authorities release Oyub Titiev, writes the Caucasian Knot.
• On January 12, lawyer Petr Zaikin appealed the arrest decision. Zaikin also reported that the human rights activist’s son was threatened with opening a criminal case under Article 228 of the Criminal Code.
• On the night of January 17, unknown masked people set fire to the office of the Memorial Human Rights Center in Ingushetia.