In case on caliphate, defendant's mother complains about torture of her son at police station

On November 24, at a hearing on the case of an attempt to create a caliphate in Kabardino-Balkaria, the North-Caucasian   Military Court questioned Arina Balkarova, the mother of defendant Akhmed Balkarov. The woman told the Court about the search in her house and also stated that her son's advocates confirmed he had been subjected to torture at a police station.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the case against 10 residents of Kabardino-Balkaria accused of an attempt to create a caliphate with Sharia form of government in Kabardino-Balkaria came to the North-Caucasian Military Court in August. The case involves as defendants Oleg Miskhozhev, Akhmed Balkarov, Islam Shogenov, Ruslan Kipshiev, Kantemir Zheldashev, Arthur Karov, Zaur Tekuzhev, and Ruslan Zhugov. None of the defendants pleaded guilty.

According to the testimony, given by Arina Balkarova, in the afternoon of January 10, 2014, her son left home and was to go to mosque for a namaz (prayer). However, after a while he stopped responding to calls to his mobile phone.

Later, Arina Balkarova and the mother of Oleg Miskhozhev were called from the Internal Security Directorate (ISD) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and asked to come to the 2^nd police department, to which Akhmed Balkarov and Oleg Miskhozhev would be brought. When the mothers arrived there, they saw how their sons in dirty clothes were taken out of a police car. Meanwhile, Oleg Miskhozhev has a plastic bag on his head. According to the witness, the young people were not able to move their feet on their own and they were literally dragged. Marina Shogenova ran up to them and tore off the plastic bag, but policemen knocked her down. According to Arina Balkarova, the Oleg Miskhozhev's face looked battered and swollen.

After her visit to Oleg Miskhozhev and Akhmed Balkarov, advocate Lyudmila Shogenova confirmed that they had been subjected to torture: they got "beaten faces and black fingers." Arina Balkarova referred to Lyudmila Shogenova and said that the guys were intimidated and psychologically suppressed and that was why they signed protocols of their interrogations, although the advocate had categorically forbidden them to do that.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.