UN experts called on Russia to free the head of the Chechen "memorial" Oyub Titiev

The UN specialist for the situation with human rights activists Michael Forst and his colleague David Kaye, who is involved in the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinions and their free expression, called on the Russian authorities to free Oyub Titiev. He headed the Chechen branch of the Memorial human rights center. In a statement by experts, published on Thursday in Geneva, the arrest of the human rights activist is expressed in question and the validity of the accusation against him of illegal trafficking of drugs was called into question.

“We urge the authorities to remove all criminal charges against Mr. Titiev and immediately release him,” experts say. They express “deep concern about his arrest” on charges that are “fabricated” to him, TASS reports. According to the specialist, the actions taken against Titiev by the authorities, "apparently, were motivated by his peaceful human rights activities and are aimed at preventing his legal right to freedom of expression and freedom of association."

The statement states that "the trial of Titiev and attacks on the" memorial "emphasizes the coordinated and intensifying intimidation campaign aimed at this organization." Special Republics recall that on March 11, the "Last Judicial Hearings" in the case of Titiev are outlined. They also inform that they maintain contact with the Russian authorities in this case.

The head of the Chechen branch of the human rights center "Memorial" Oyub Titiev was detained on January 9, 2018. The police allegedly discovered in his car a package with 180 grams of marijuana. Two days later, the Shalinsky District Court arrested Titiev, accusing large -scale drugs .

The human rights activist claims that the drugs were thrown back to him. International organizations, including the Council of Europe, Russian opposition politicians and public figures have repeatedly made calls to free Titiev . The memorial is sure that his arrest is due to the fact that the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov decided to get rid of the presence of a human rights center in the republic.

On May 18, it became known that from the material evidence in the Titiev case, his personal belongings, a DVR and equipment that was tracking the route and location of his car, disappeared. In addition, the handle and lock of the car were damaged - the door could be opened without a key. Later it turned out that one of the witnesses present during the search of the Titiev car, during which he allegedly found drugs, worked in the police.

In the defense of the human rights activist, the elders of Chechnya spoke in court, whose opinion in the Caucasus is traditionally considered unquestioned. “He only fought for the truth from childhood and only told the truth, he lived correctly all his life. The accusation he was presented with was all lies. He never smoked and drank, he is a religious sports guy. He cannot be related to drugs, he never held them in his hands,” said witness Salam Dashaev.

Human rights activists believe that the final of the trial is a foregone conclusion. The court in the case of the head of the Grozny Memorial frankly supports the prosecution, but the defense counts on the liberation of Oyub Titiev after the sentence. This was stated on March 6 lawyers at a press conference in Moscow.

After the arrest of Titiev and the pressure on his colleagues, the Memorial office in Chechnya closed, said Oleg Orlov, head of the Hot Pots program. According to him, human rights work in Chechnya continues, but "in other forms."

According to the lawyer Ilya Novikov, the outcome of the court in the case of Oyub Titiev was actually a foregone conclusion, since the head of the Grozny Memorial was already announced by the head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov, calling the human rights activist the drug addict, the Echo of the Caucasus reports.

This statement is based only on the testimony of the witness by the prosecution of Suliman Baskhanov. He allegedly recognized Titiev as a man who smoked marijuana.

Meanwhile, Baskhanov himself admitted that he used drugs. He was twice tried for the illegal circulation of narcotic drugs and both times appointed conditional terms. This is uncharacteristic for the Chechen court. Human rights activists believe that Baskhanov is an agent of the police.

The lawyer Marina Dubrovina spoke about gross falsifications in the case. According to her, the only evidence proving Titiev’s involvement in the seized package with drugs was his hair sticking to the strip of adhesive tape, which was attached to the package.

Oyub Titiev in his testimony explained that this tape with his hair was received only on January 10, the day after the detention. On the morning of the 10th in the building of the Kurchaloevsky police department, the human rights activist was wrapped with tape, and then "cut from the back and sharply tore off." “Thus, his hair turned out to be on the adhesive tape. There were no other evidence - there are no fingerprints and anything else - Titiev’s involvement in this package. We filed a petition for conducting an investigative experiment, but we were denied, as in 99% of the rest of the petition. All that happened with Oyub Titiyev is a gross falsification,” Marina Dubrovina emphasized. Her words are given by Radio "Freedom" .

The case of Titiev cannot be considered outside the general context of the situation with human rights in Chechnya, said the representative of Human Rights Watch Rachel Denber. “We see a ten -year history of pressure on human rights defenders and journalists, arson of offices, persecution of any person who dares to criticize Kadyrov and the Chechnya government,” she emphasized.

And before the arrest of Oyub Titiev in Chechnya, "there were such cases with tossing drugs to people who criticized power," Denber noted.

According to her, the case of Oyub Titiev has made a great international resonance. Representatives of the UN, commissar of the Council of Europe on Human Rights, expressed his defense. His case was discussed at a meeting of France President Emmanuel Macron with Vladimir Putin, listened to the so -called Moscow mechanism at the OSCE.

On February 14, the European Parliament in adopted a resolution in which he demanded urgently release Oyub Titiev. Parliamentarians also called on athletes and artists around the world to boycott public events in Chechnya, the Caucasian Knot reported.