Prison facility. Photo by Tatiana Gantimurova for the Caucasian Knot

25 March 2019, 11:01

Relatives report traces of beatings on Tuntuev's body

Ayub Tuntuev, a former security of the Chechen leader, who was found dead in a colony, has been buried into the clan cemetery. Relatives found bruises on his body, while examination established the absence of kidneys and a lung in Tuntuev's body.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 12, the "Legal Initiative" reported about Tuntuev's suicide in a colony in the Vladimir Region. He was transferred there in 2015; and in August 2018, his advocates filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) about pressure on Tuntuev and torture, rights defenders reported.

On May 15, 2008, the Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya sentenced Ayub Tuntuev to 24 years of imprisonment in the case on a terror act committed in 2005. On August 2, 2017, the North-Caucasian District Military Court recognizing Ayub Tuntuev as a participant in the attack on Pskov paratroopers in 2000 and prolonged the term of his punishment for 11 months. In May 2016, the "Legal Initiative" filed a complaint to the ECtHR against the verdict to Ayub Tuntuev.

Ayub Tuntuev's body was brought home and buried.

"There were many people at the tezet (commemoration ceremony); they came from neighbouring villages and other districts. Nobody believes in his suicide," one of Tuntuev's relatives told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"There were bruises on his body, which means he was beaten up before he died. Besides, the forensic examination found that he had no kidneys and lungs. This also raises big questions. Why had these organs been cut out of his body?" another Tuntuev's relative told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The information that kidneys and lungs had been taken out of Tuntuev's body was confirmed by one of the participants of the sitting of the Council for the development of civil society and human rights under the head of Chechnya, held on March 21.

"Indeed, an independent examination revealed that both kidneys and lungs were cut away from Tuntuev's body," a participant of the sitting told on condition of anonymity.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 24, 2019 at 11:06 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

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