Translated material
Magamadov and Isaev, kidnapped by Chechen security forces, went on a hunger strike. The court refused to transfer their case to another region
Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev, who were forcibly taken from Nizhny Novgorod to Chechnya in February, went on a hunger strike because the judge refused to transfer their case to another region. This was reported to Novaya Gazeta by the press service of the SK SOS Crisis Group.
Lawyers cooperating with the Crisis Group believe that the case of Magamadov and Isaev should not be considered in Chechnya, since the first persons of the republic publicly declared in the local media that young people were guilty, which “contributes to pressure on the judicial system” and interferes with the “objective consideration of the case” . Moreover, the young men received threats of "honour killings". Despite the arguments of the defense, on November 19, the Achkhoy-Martan court of Chechnya rejected the request to transfer the case to another region for the third time in a row.
A few days earlier, the Department of the Investigative Committee for Chechnya had refused to initiate a criminal investigation into complaints of torture of Magamadov and Isaev. The investigator for particularly important cases, Abdulkhadzhiev, informed the lawyer of the young men that, in his opinion, by reporting torture, they were misleading the court and trying to evade criminal responsibility. Human rights activists do not rule out that the refusal to initiate a criminal case may be related to the sexual orientation of young people.
In mid-August, the young men told about the beatings by the operative and the prison staff. Magamadov also reported that SIZO-1 officers came to him with a forced haircut and beat him in response to his refusal. In protest, the young man inflicted 29 cuts on his hands with a razor.
On September 13, the Memorial Human Rights Center* recognized Magamadov and Isaev as political prisoners, and their case as politically motivated and illegal.
The young men ended up in the Grozny pre-trial detention center after they were forcibly taken from Nizhny Novgorod to Chechnya on February 4. For a long time, lawyers were not allowed to see their clients, they were not provided with case materials.
Magamadov and Isaev are accused in the case of participation in an illegal armed formation (IAF) (part 2 of article 208 of the Criminal Code) by providing food. According to investigators, the young people handed over bread, juice, tea and chocolate to one of the members of the illegal armed formations. Now they face up to 15 years in prison. According to human rights activists, the detainees had to sign statements under torture.