Complaint about Timur Muritov's torture submitted to ECtHR

A complaint was sent to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) about the torture of Timur Muritov, convicted for recruiting people into the ranks of the "Islamic State" (a terrorist organization, banned in Russia by the court), who stated at the trial that he had been tortured by electric current and beat up by law enforcers in Dagestan.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 1, 2019, the North-Caucasian District Military Court sentenced Timur Muritov, a citizen of Kazakhstan, who had lived in Dagestan for several years, to eight years in prison. The Court found that Muritov had convinced his friend to leave for Syria and take part in the conflict there on militants' side. His advocate announced his intention to appeal against the verdict and stated that his client had been tortured.

The complaint in the case of Timur Muritov to the ECtHR was sent by the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" on August 16. This complaint claims the torture applied by law enforcers to Muritov in Dagestan after his detention.

"First, they made a five-hour-long torture with electric current; then they resorted to a more traditional method – beating. They tried to knock confessions out of him. After the advocate entered his case, they stopped torturing him," says the message of the HRC "Memorial" received by the "Caucasian Knot" on August 19.

Human rights defenders indicate that they had been trying to achieve an investigation into the torture for a whole year; and during that period, they were six times denied initiation of a criminal case.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 19, 2019 at 09:55 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.