Oyub Titiev abused, his defence reports

A scotch tape with Oyub Titiev's hairs on it, which was used to wrap a package with drugs, was obtained with the use of violence as a result of a scene with threats arranged by law enforcers, an advocate of the Chechen rights defender has stated today.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that at a court hearing held on January 11, after a number of defence motions had been dismissed, advocates of Oyub Titiev demanded the disqualification of the judge, but they were refused. The advocates also asked the court to request mobile operators to provide the details of the Oyub Titiev's mobile phone connections on the day of his detention.

Today, at the beginning of the court hearing, the judge dismissed the defence motion to request the details of the Oyub Titiev's mobile phone connections. According to the judge, the prosecutors' verification did not confirm that Oyub Titiev had any mobile phones with him, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports from the courtroom.

Advocate Marina Dubrovina filed a new motion to recognize a piece of the scotch tape with hairs as unacceptable evidence.

Oyub Titiev was threatened, and law enforcers demanded from him "to write a confession and put an end to all that." When Oyub Titiev refused, they handcuffed him and wrapped his head with a scotch tape, which they then removed and thus tore off his hairs with it, the advocate said. "At least the scotch tape was obtained in an inhuman way. In our case, law enforcers used against Oyub Titiev not only threats but also violence. This is a clear violation of his rights and constitutes a violation of Article 6 of the Convention on Human Rights (right to a fair trial, note of the 'Caucasian Knot')," explained to the court Marina Dubrovina.

The defence believes that the scene with the scotch tape was specially arranged to get Oyub Titiev's hairs. "Later, law enforcers wrapped a package with drugs with the scotch tape they used to wrap the Oyub's head. And, of course, traces of the drug were found on the hairs," said Marina Dubrovina.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 12, 2019 at 02:18 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.