Oyub Titiev's defence claims court's accusatory bias

The court that is considering the case of Oyub Titiev, the head of the Grozny office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", is supporting all the prosecution's arguments and rejects all the defence's motions, since they reveal gross falsifications, Oyub Titiev's advocates assert.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that at the session on February 6, the court rejected two defence's motions; on February 7 – three out of four motions.

The motions rejected by the court were important for defending Titiev. The handwriting examination of the protocols with different signatures opposite the name of the head of the Kurchaloi ROVD (District Interior Division) could lead to the exclusion of these documents from the case files, since no subordinates had any right to sign protocols, the advocate Ilya Novikov has stated.

The defence also claimed that the examination of the marijuana, the keeping of which is imputed to Titiev, was an unacceptable proof. They referred to the fact that the drug substance was gathered in violation of procedural rules.

All the recent court sessions are held under the same scenario, Mr Novikov has noted: "We put forward various petitions – but the answer is the same – to reject."

The course of the trial of the Titiev's case clearly indicates that the court is biased; the defence and the prosecution are in unequal conditions, Pyotr Zaikin, another advocate, has stated.