- Kabardino-Balkariya: Court Sessions on Nalchik Attack Case Continue

On May 11, 2010, another court session on Nalchik (Kabardino-Balkariya) attack by boeviks took place. On October 13, 2005 (see HRC Memorial messages (in Russian): www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/caucas1/msg/2009/12/m200940.htm; www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/caucas1/msg/2010/02/m198093.htm). The sittings have been postponed multiple times because of the lawyer’s illness.

During the sitting on May 11, the defense submitted a request to the court on necessity to return the criminal case to the Deputy of Supreme Court of KBR in order to organize the proceedings with participation of a jury. The prosecution requested time for preparation until May 13. The lawyer of the defendants believes that the request would be rejected. The rejection would be most probably motivated by the fact that the right for legal investigation in reasonable time is more important than the right for jury trial.

The full version of the request of the defense (in Russian) is available on Memorial’s website: www.memo.ru/2010/05/11/1105101.htm.

- Russian Authorities Should Closely Monitor the Court Proceedings for the Murder of Israilov in Vienna

On 15 March 2010, the Vienna counterterrorism department, which has carried out a criminal investigation into the murder of Chechen refugee Umar Israilov, submitted its final 214-pages report on the results of the investigation to the Vienna public prosecutor’s office. The investigation names two close aides of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, Shaa Turlayev and Magomed Daudov and the President himself as being suspected of having ordered the killing or a kidnapping, which would possibly result in the death of the victim.

Umar Israilov, an applicant to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), was murdered on 13 January 2009 in the centre of Vienna. In his application to ECHR, Israilov accused the President of Chechnya of illegally detaining and torturing him in 2003. Israilov, a former Chechen fighter, maintained that after he had been arrested by officers of the Chechen law enforcement agencies, Kadyrov personally tortured him with electric shocks before offering him an amnesty conditional upon his joining the ranks of Kadyrov’s security service. In his petition, Israilov described in detail the system of violence and secret prisons which existed in the Chechen Republic with the consent of and controlled by the incumbent President of Chechnya. As recorded in a witness report published by The New York Times, six months before his murder, an emissary of Kadyrov came to see Israilov in Vienna to lure him out of Austria, and when he saw that this was in vain, he delivered threats from the leader of Chechnya and demanded that he withdraw his petition from the European Court.

Our organisations will closely follow the court proceedings in Vienna and inform the public about the results of the court inquest.

We call upon the leadership of the Russian Federation to likewise carefully follow the court proceedings for the murder of the applicant to the European Court Umar Israilov, and closely study the evidence on the possible involvement of Russian officials in this crime to be presented in court.

International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)

Memorial Human Rights Centre

Civil Rights Defenders

Norwegian Helsinki Committee

People in Need

For further information: Memorial