Rights defenders treat Islam Gugov's case as unprecedented

A case of Islam Gugov, involved in the third trial after his voluntary return from Syria, is a precedent when the law enforcement bodies ignore the guarantees given by the authorities, believes Oleg Orlov, a member of the Council for the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Islam Gugov voluntarily returned from Syria to Russia and he trusted the law enforcers' promises to be at large, but he was detained already at the Nalchik airport.

According to Oleg Orlov, before the Islam Gugov's case, there were no precedents, when the guarantees of the authorities were ignored. "There were cases when the adaptation commission in Kabardino-Balkaria petitioned for someone, but later the investigative bodies and courts did not care about that and sentenced a person to imprisonment. Meanwhile, here [in the Islam Gugov's case] we are talking about the guarantees from the authorities," said the rights defender.

Valery Khatazhukov, the head of the movement "For Human Rights" in Kabardino-Balkaria, believes that such a depreciation of the authorities' promises inflicts great damage to the prevention of extremism and terrorism.

"If we are talking about the case of Islam Gugov, then it was the Mayor of his native city of Baksan, who gave guarantees. He came to the meeting of the adaptation commission and said that he took responsibility. That was an example for the local authorities to get involved in the process. And what will happen now? Who will do that and who will believe the promises of the authorities?" Valery Khatazhukov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.