Prosecutor's office of Dagestan appealed against the Khasavyurt court judgment on unlawfulness of arrest of Boliev, human rights activist

The prosecutor's office of Khasavyurt has appealed in the Supreme Court of Dagestan the ruling of the Khasavyurt town court of May 17 of this year on invalidating the November 16, 2005 award of the magistrate of section No 35 on the arrest of Osman Boliev, the local human rights activist, for two days for defying the orders of militia officers, reports Boliev over the telephone from Khasavyurt to the correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot."

The prosecutor's office, in its appeal, justifies the legitimacy of the award by magistrate Z. Bitarov. "They allege that lawyer Salimat Kadyrova and I have been acquainted with the case against me on an administrative offence, that the lawyer has copied the files, etc. All this is far from the truth," says Osman Boliev.

"The award of magistrate Bitarov Z.B. of November 16, 2005 was not passed on the day indicated in the award. Moreover, no court hearing on the case was conducted, I was not informed on the court hearing on the case of administrative offence, I was not present when the said award was passed. When getting acquainted with the file of the criminal case No 510439 in compliance with art. 217 of RF CCP, I did not see the said award in the case materials, it was not there. I learned for the first time about the existence of the award on May 5, 2006, during the court hearing on the criminal case. I received a copy of the document on the same day," runs the application of Osman Boliev to the General Prosecutor's office of Russia and the Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Dagestan with a demand to initiate criminal proceedings against Judge Bitarov. As is noted in applications, the copy of the criminal case file handed over to the Boliev's lawyer did not contain a copy of the magistrate award. Boliev and his Moscow lawyer Sergey Brovchenko have also addressed the judicial qualification chamber of Dagestan with a request to suspend the powers of Judge Z.Bitarov.

"The award of magistrate Bitarov Z.B. of November 16, 2005 was intentionally fabricated for using in the criminal case, since my lawyer had repeatedly applied for excluding from the evidence of the criminal case the report on administrative offence of November 15, 2005 which was not signed by the chief of the Khasavyurt internal affairs department. No material on administrative offence which was to be registered by the report had been sent to court or considered by the court. As a result of actions of magistrate Bitarov Z.B., I was unlawfully, outside court proceedings, in absentia brought to administrative responsibility, deprived of the Constitutional right to judicial protection and the right to defend my rights and freedoms by all methods which are not prohibited by law. Thus, officials involved in the investigation of this case (possibly, the investigating officer who conducted preliminary investigation of the case) have added a knowingly fake document into the file as evidence," writes О. Boliev to the General and the Dagestan prosecutor's offices.

Now, according to Osman Boliev, he and his lawyer Salimat Kadyrova are preparing their written objections to the prosecutor's office appeal and intend to send them tomorrow to the republic's Supreme Court. No date of considering the appeal has been fixed, so far.

"In order to make Boliev's detention legitimate, falsified documents of his administrative detention were submitted to the court which was considering his criminal case. The award of the magistrate of section No 35 of Khasavyurt finds Boliev guilty of defying the orders of militia and imposes an administrative punishment in the form of a 2-day arrest. The award was based on the materials which allegedly were submitted to the court by the chief of militia unit," states the press-release of the "Public Verdict" foundation which provides legal and information support to Osman Boliev.

In the opinion of the foundation, the judgment of Khasavyurt town court of May 17 of this year has actually recognized the "falsification of the materials of the criminal case against the human rights activist, illegibility of the award of the magistrate on the administrative arrest of Boliev, forgery by the chief of militia unit of Khasavyurt, illegitimate detention and placement into custody of Boliev."

On May 18, the Khasavyurt town court acquitted Osman Boliev owing to the innocence of the defendant of committing the crime. This is how Judge Yarali Ramazanov, according to lawyer Sergey Brovchenko, formulated the operative part of the judgment. Boliev was charged with illegal acquisition, storage and wearing of firearms. Yesterday О. Boliev was notified in the Khasavyurt town court that the full text of the sentence would be ready in a couple of days.
 
For reference, on November 15, 2005, Osman Boliev, resident of Khasavyurt, stood by his brother's car parked near his house. He was approached by traffic militiamen who, claiming that the Boliev's car resembled a car reported to be stolen, suggested that he should follow them to the militia station for checking. Boliev took the wheel to follow the traffic militia car in the direction of the local department of internal affairs. However, on the way there the Boliev's car was stopped by soldiers of the RF MIA mobile investigation unit. The traffic militia officers handed Boliev over to the mobile squad militiamen and drove off. In their turn, the latter placed O.Boliev into their car, put a bag over his head, handcuffed him and took him to the Khasavyurt department of internal affairs. According to the human rights activist, while in militia, they had been torturing him for several hours, then searched him and "discovered" a dismantled grenade on him.

Initially, they tried to charge Boliev with involvement in an illegal armed unit. On November 16, 2005, already the next day following the arrest, the "Dagestan" news agency, citing the Dagestan MIA press-service, reported that O.Boliev, active participant of illegal armed units, had been detained in Khasavyurt. According to law enforcement agencies, he was member of the group of Abdulsheikhov Arslanbek killed in Moscow's "Nord-Ost" theatre in 2003. The report also ran that security agencies possessed information on the detainee's involvement in combat actions against federal forces on the territory of the Chechen Republic and that during arrest of the "militant," "an RGD-5 grenade with a fuse was found on him and confiscated."

A number of experts think that the main cause of the Boliev's detention and charge has been his professional activity. The "Romashka" public organization headed by Boliev has been initiator of notorious court proceedings on the case of kidnapping Dagestan resident Yaraly Israilov on October 19, 2004 by officers of Khasavyurt department of internal affairs. Boliev, along with Karina Moskalenko, head of International Protection Facilitation Centre, compiled and sent a complaint on the case to the European Court on Human Rights. In addition, Boliev publicly disclosed the fact of murder of Summai Abdurashitova, a 6-year old girl, by Dagestan law enforcement officers during a secret operation. A complaint on the case was also filed in the European Court.

The "Memorial" human rights centre stated on March 16 that "the criminal prosecution of Osman Boliev in Dagestan is clearly politically motivated."