Kurbanov brothers tell the court details of torture after detention

Mukhtar and Ismail Kurbanov, residents of Dagestan, have told at questioning in the court how they were tortured after detention. They denied all the accusations and stated that they had self-incriminated under threats.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 17, 2019, at the trial of the case of Mukhtar and Ismail Kurbanov, the prosecution stated that the brothers had joined an illegal armed formation (IAF), stored explosives, and the younger one, Mukhtar, fought for a terrorist organization in Syria. The brothers refused to plead guilty.

At the October 22 session of the Southern District Military Court, Mukhtar Kurbanov said that after detention, he was brought to a division of some power structure in Makhachkala, "placed face down on a wooden floor, where they used physical violence, tortured with electric and pronounced threats against his family, promising to detain all of them." He said that they demanded from him to confess to helping some militant, named Samurai, and "poked an object that looked like a grenade into his hands."

At the division of the power structure, where Mukhtar Kurbanov and his brother were brought, they demanded from them to sign a printed protocol in 12 pages, threatening to torture them again; therefore, he had incriminated himself, Mukhtar has stated.

Ismail Kurbanov said that, like his brother, he was beaten up after detention, which was accompanied by threats against himself and his family. "Then they attached wires to my fingers and turned the current on and off. I was told that if I didn't confess, they would connect current to my genitals; I perceived it as a life threat; and I heard my brother's screams. They also demanded from me to confess to storing a grenade and cartridges," said Ismail Kurbanov.

According to his story, under the threat of torture, he signed an already printed out protocol.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 23, 2019 at 01:49 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.