18:59, 14 February 2017

Rights defenders urge to transfer Aslan Cherkesov to Caucasian colony

Aslan Cherkesov, a native of Nalchik, convicted for murdering a football fan Yegor Sviridov, is tortured in jail, his mother told rights defenders.

Today, the Kabardino-Balkarian regional human rights centre has posted an appeal on its website to the head of the republic Yuri Kokov, containing the story of Sonya Cherkesova about the situation of her son.

"It follows from Sonya Cherkesova’s statement that during serving his prison term, her son is systematically subjected to illegal treatment with the use of torture and physical abuse," rights defenders say.

Cherkesova has also reported that she had received "death threats" concerning her son, who had recently suffered a stroke. She asks to help to transfer Aslan to one of the colonies of Northern Caucasus; and the authors of the appeal to Kokov support her.

"We consider it necessary to attract your attention to facts of illegal physical abuse and torture of North-Caucasian inmates in Russian jails, which have a systematic character," says the appeal.

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