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Court in Chechnya banishes human rights activist to penal colony
Source: The Guardian
Court in Chechnya banishes human rights activist to penal colony
Oyub Titiev sentenced to four years in penal colony after widely condemned trial
Andrew Roth in Shali
Mon 18 Mar 2019 18.29 GMT
A court in Chechnya has sentenced a prominent human rights activist to four years in a penal colony after a widely condemned trial that culminated in the judge reading out the verdict for more than nine hours.
Oyub Titiev, the local head of the human rights group Memorial, was charged last year with possession of more than 200g of marijuana. Titiev said the drugs were planted in his car, and colleagues said he was being punished for revealing details of abductions and torture by Chechnya’s security services.
“I told him that I was worried about the consequences of his work, we had this conversation many times,” said Titiev’s brother Yakub. “But he is a principled man and he believes in his work.”
The case had already been considered an absurd example of the crackdown on dissent in the Russian republic. Titiev watched proceedings from inside a cage, leaning on the white bars as he listened to the judge read out the verdict. Many others in the court remained standing as day turned to night. Some relatives dozed, while journalists stretched by crouching down to the floor. Several European diplomats sent to observe the case left the courtroom after about six hours as it remained unclear if the judge would deliver a sentence that evening.
-snip-
Oyub Titiev sentenced to four years in penal colony after widely condemned trial
Andrew Roth in Shali
Mon 18 Mar 2019 18.29 GMT
A court in Chechnya has sentenced a prominent human rights activist to four years in a penal colony after a widely condemned trial that culminated in the judge reading out the verdict for more than nine hours.
Oyub Titiev, the local head of the human rights group Memorial, was charged last year with possession of more than 200g of marijuana. Titiev said the drugs were planted in his car, and colleagues said he was being punished for revealing details of abductions and torture by Chechnya’s security services.
“I told him that I was worried about the consequences of his work, we had this conversation many times,” said Titiev’s brother Yakub. “But he is a principled man and he believes in his work.”
The case had already been considered an absurd example of the crackdown on dissent in the Russian republic. Titiev watched proceedings from inside a cage, leaning on the white bars as he listened to the judge read out the verdict. Many others in the court remained standing as day turned to night. Some relatives dozed, while journalists stretched by crouching down to the floor. Several European diplomats sent to observe the case left the courtroom after about six hours as it remained unclear if the judge would deliver a sentence that evening.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/18/chechnya-court-banishes-human-rights-activist-to-penal-colony