Human rights activists ask FSIN Director to release Chechen native from custody

Human rights activists, lawyers and relatives of Zubair Zubairaev, a convicted Chechen resident, filed an application to Alexander Reimer, Director of the Russian Federal Correction Service (FSIN), to release Zubair Zubairaev on health grounds.

Zubairaev was convicted by the Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic on August 13, 2007, under Article "Infringement on life of a law enforcement officer" for 5 years in prison.

Zubairaev's relatives, lawyers and human rights activists have repeatedly reported to Nurdi Nukhazhiev, Ombudsman in the Chechen Republic, that the life of the convicted person is in danger. According to his relatives, prison guards have promised Zubairaev that he would not leave the prison alive.
The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Minkail Ezhiev, the head of the Human Rights Centre of the Chechen Republic, according to the story of Zubairaev's lawyers, the convict had been sent to a hospital, where he had spent one week.

"According to my information, at present he is not able to move already, being a litter patient. The situation is very serious; he does not eat actually and only drinks a liquid. We should take certain measures in the next several days; otherwise, we cannot know what will happen to him," the human rights activist has assured.

According to Minkail Ezhiev, further to the application to the director of the Russian FSIN, the human rights activists plan to attract to this case Vladimir Lukin, Russian Ombudsman, and other public activists and human rights defenders.

The leadership of the Corrective Institution FBU UP 288/T made no comments on the statements of the lawyers and Zubairaev's relatives yet.