A Chechen resident sentenced to life imprisonment has been recognized as a political prisoner
The independent human rights project "Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial" has recognized Mekhidi Timerbulatov as a political prisoner. A resident of the Chechen city of Gudermes has been sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of committing a terrorist act, which human rights activists believe to be fabricated.
On June 19, 2001, two car bombs exploded in Gudermes - near the courthouse and next to the local police station. As a result, three people were killed and 45 were injured. Security forces detained Mekhidi Timerbulatov on suspicion of committing these terrorist acts.
Two more men were charged in the same case: the investigation believed that they, along with Timerbulatov, were part of an "organized group" of terrorists. At the beginning of the investigation, they confessed, but later retracted their confessions. Timerbulatov stated that in custody, security forces systematically tortured him and threatened his relatives with violence in his presence. He repeatedly, but to no avail, filed complaints with the prosecutor's office and the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, demanding that a criminal case be opened on the fact of torture. In January 2002, Timerbulatov's relatives - a brother, sister and her husband - were kidnapped and disappeared without a trace. On May 18, 2004, the court found Timerbulatov guilty of all crimes and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
On January 21, 2020, the European Court of Human Rights upheld the complaint of Timerbulatov's mother and found that the kidnapped relatives were taken into custody "by state agents during special operations."
"The verdict is almost entirely based on the confessions of Timerbulatov and other defendants during the investigation. The prosecution did not present objective evidence of his guilt - fingerprinting, biological examinations, other evidence that would indisputably confirm their involvement in the terrorist attacks. We believe that guilt in committing such a serious crime cannot be proven only by the confessions of the accused, which they also retracted in court," the human rights activists said.
