19 November 2019, 08:36
KBR resident who complained of torture sentenced to six years in prison
The Chegem District Court has sentenced Rustam Kuchmenov, a resident of the village of Shalushka, who stated that he was tortured after detention. His defence has promised to challenge the verdict. A lawyer of the "Committee against Torture" (CaT) has also criticized the verdict.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in December 2017, Rustam Kuchmenov turned to human rights defenders with a complaint of torture after his detention. He recognized five law enforcers involved, but none of them was removed from office. On August 21, 2019, the CaT reported that the Kuchmenov torture case was reopened and handed over to employees of the Investigating Department (ID) for the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF).
According to investigators, Rustam Kuchmenov, together with his accomplices, committed domestic thefts; however, he refused to plead guilty, stating that law enforcers had knocked a confession of theft out of him by torturing him with electric current.
The fact that Rustam Kuchmenov was sentenced to six years in a high security penal colony was reported to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on November 18 by the advocate, Rustam Tarkhanov. The verdict was announced at the Chegem District Court on November 15.
Rustam Tarkhanov treats the verdict as unjustified. "We'll appeal against it at the court of appeal," he said.
Magomed Alamov, a CaT's lawyer, has also criticized Kuchmenov's verdict. "The court has sentenced Rustam Kuchmenov to six years in a high security colony in the absence of any objective proofs of his guilt, except for the testimonies of his acquaintances, knocked out under torture," Mr Alamov has noted.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 18, 2019 at 08:14 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Lyudmila Maratova Source: CK correspondent
