Zelimkhan Aushev, sentenced for undermining "Neva-Express" Train, tortured, his advocate asserts

Zelimkhan Aushev, who has been sentenced on charges of undermining the "Neva-Express" Train and who is serving his sentence of life imprisonment at the penitentiary colony IK-5 of the Department of the Federal Penitentiary Service (known as FSIN) for the Vologda Region of Russia, is subjected to torture at the FSIN Investigating Division for the Vologda Region. This was stated by Lyudmila Tolstonogova, the prisoner's advocate. Officials from the FSIN Department do not comment on the advocate's statement.

According to the advocate's information, Zelimkhan Aushev was transferred to the FSIN Investigating Division for the Vologda Region, where, on October 15, he was asked to testify against people unknown to him that they were members of illegal armed formations (IAFs) and were involved in terror actions.

According to the advocate, when Zelimkhan Aushev refused to give false testimony, he was beaten.

"Complaint of Zelimkhan Aushev allows us to understand the circumstances under that Tarkhan Kartoev, who was sentenced in the case, died," believes advocate Tatiana Okushko, who defended Tarkhan Kartoev.

"If earlier, we could classify Tarkhan Kartoev's death as 'excessive zeal' for beating expressed by staff members of the IK-2, then now, when we know what is happening with Zelimkhan Aushev, we can doubt the causes that led to Tarkhan Kartoev's death. There is every reason to believe that the staff members of the IK-2 tortured Tarkhan Kartoev to force him to give false testimony against someone," the advocate told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Earlier, the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) did not find components of crime in the death of the man sentenced on charges of undermining the "Neva-Express" Train.