(19 Mar 2019) A court in Russia's Chechnya province has sentenced a prominent rights activist to four years' imprisonment on drug charges widely seen as an effort by authorities to stifle a critical voice.
The court in the Chechen town of Shali found Oyub Titiyev guilty of drug possession on Monday and sent him to a prison colony, which means he will be able to travel home to see his family two days a week.
Titiyev has denied the charges, and his lawyers said they would appeal the verdict.
The 61-year-old rights activist, in a traditional Muslim skull cap, spent the entire day in a metal cage in court, sometimes reclining on the bars.
The courthouse was packed with his relatives and neighbours, some of whom at times would doze off at the monotony of the judge's reading which took more than eight hours.
Titiyev has been in custody since his arrest in January 2018 in what has been largely perceived as a vendetta against a rare critic of the Chechen government.
As the head of the Chechen office of prominent rights group Memorial, he played a major role in exposing extrajudicial killings, kidnappings and torture perpetrated by security forces in Chechnya.
Chechnya's regional leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who previously dismissed rights activists as liars and traitors, publicly called the 61-year-old Titiyev a "junkie."
Titiyev's supporters said the case aimed not only to silence the activist, who is known as a devout Muslim, but also discredit him in the eyes of the community.
Chechnya witnessed two devastating wars in the 1990s and early 2000s before a separatist leader switched sides to support the Russian government in return for almost full control over this region in the North Caucasus.
Since his father's assassination in 2004, Ramzan Kadyrov has ruled this predominantly Muslim area as a personal fiefdom, using generous Kremlin subsidies.
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
