18:54, 31 July 2007

Re-trial of "Cadet" case starts in Chechnya

On July 30, the Octiabrskiy district court in Grozny started a re-trial of the case of senior lieutenant Sergey Lapin, former officer of Nizhnevartovsk district internal affairs department (radio call sign "Cadet"), charged with torturing Zelimkhan Murdalov, resident of the Chechen capital.

The newspaper "Commersant" reports that the court session started with considering the petitions filed by Ghennadiy Degtiarev, defendant's lawyer. In particular, he demanded that the officer should be released from custody pointing out the "terrible conditions" of his defendant in the pre-trial prison: "He even has no tooth-brush or a towel."

Having learnt about this, the relatives of Chechens who had disappeared at the temporary internal affairs department (TIAD) of Octiabrskiy district in Grozny, where the "Cadet" had served, sent him thirty toothbrushes on which names of the missing persons were inscribed.

Judge Aset Mamayeva rejected the petition on the release stating that Sergey Lapin was charged with a serious crime and that he had been sentenced for it to 11 years of imprisonment in 2005.