HRC "Memorial" reports about pressure on colleagues and advocate of Oyub Titiev

After the detention of Oyub Titiev, his Chechen advocate had to leave the republic because of threats from law enforcers, and an employee of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" office in Grozny was subjected to pressure. This was reported to the court by Oleg Orlov, the head of the "Hot Spots" programme created by the HRC "Memorial".

The rights defender associated the prosecution of Oyub Titiev with his investigation into the case of 27 executed residents of Chechnya and the hostile attitude of the republic's authorities towards the HRC "Memorial".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 9, two witnesses confirmed that Oyub Titiev adhered to healthy lifestyle. The case against Oyub Titiev, the arson of a rights defenders' car in Dagestan, and the attack on the HRC "Memorial" office in Ingushetia are links of one chain, states Sirazhutdin Datsiev, the head of the Dagestani branch of the HRC "Memorial".

Today, Oleg Orlov has become the second witness of the defence. The rights defender stated that the Chechen law enforcers had fabricated the evidence and mentioned the marijuana joints they had allegedly found on the balcony of the HRC "Memorial" office in Grozny in March.

According to Oleg Orlov, he has been acquainted with Oyub Titiev for 18 years, knows him as a reliable person, a deeply faithful Muslim, who never smoked or drank alcoholic beverages, but was fond of sports.

The leaders of the HRC "Memorial" feared for the safety of Oyub Titiev and other employees in Chechnya since 2004, especially for well-known negative attitude of the republic's authorities and personally Ramzan Kadyrov towards the organization, Oleg Orlov noted.