Titiyev’s defense demanded that the court recognize that the evidence presented in the case is inadequate
On January 28 and 29 the Shali City Court continued to examine the case against the director of the Grozny office of the Memorial Human Rights Center, Oyub Titiyev, for drug possession (part 2 of article 228 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
On January 28, Judge Madina Zainetdinova rejected the defense’s petitions, including for a technical examination of the cameras and recorders installed on the buildings along Oyub’s path to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) on January 9. That day the cameras on the buildings were either not working due to technical problems or the recordings on the cameras were not saved.
Zainetdinova also refused to call Ruslan Abubakarov and Madina Dzhankhotova to the stand, forensic experts from MIA who determined that the adhesive tape allegedly removed from the marijuana bag, contained Oyub Titiyev’s hair.
At the January 29 hearing, advocate Pyotr Zaikin filed a motion for the court to recognize a black plastic bag with drugs seized from the car of Oyub Titiyev as inadmissible. Oyub Titiyev is head of the Grozny office of Memorial and was accused of drug possession (article 228 of the Criminal Code, part 2).
Titiyev was represented by Marina Dubrovina and Ilya Novikov. The defense team believes that basic rules for handling evidence were violated in the investigation.
During the search of Titiyev’s car on January 9, a bag was found within which was another bag and within this bag were drugs.
The seized bag had another bag inside of it, so that is there were three bags in total. Looking at the evidence in the case materials, however, only two bags were submitted.
«What was found in the car should have been packed and sealed for submission to the investigation," Dubrovina commented. «From the case file, it is clear that the narcotic substance was submitted to the investigation in a different bag [than it was found]. This means that after being seized, the bag was opened.»
Additionally, examining the scene of the incident and judging the case materials, it became clear that there was no tape on the bag. During the investigation, that was allegedly conducted on January 9, the tape was there. On January 10, the tape, according to Oyub, was wrapped around his head and torn off, taking with it some of his hair.
«There are all reasons to believe that starting from January 9 the investigation was written retroactively to meet the needs of the investigation’s planned conclusions," Dubrovina says.
The prosecutor of the Kurchaloevsky district, Dzhabrail Akhmatov, requested time to prepare a petition. Judge Zainetdinova called for a recess. The next hearing is scheduled for February 6 at 10 am.
