Advocate assesses inquiry prospects of Insa Lander's case

The case of Insa Lander, a blogger from Kabardino-Balkaria, suspected of assisting terrorist activities, who escaped from house arrest, will be frozen, Dmitry Zakhvatov, an advocate, believes. Russia's chances to extradite Lander are minimal, Vladimir Novitsky, a human rights defender, has noted.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Insa Oguz, a blogger, known under the pseudonym "Insa Lander", had escaped from house arrest, and on June 12 tried to leave for Georgia via North Ossetia, but border guards did not let her through. On June 27, Georgian authorities allowed her to enter the country; and from there she flew to Lithuania on June 28.

Later, she violated the terms of house arrest by fleeing to Georgia; she was put on the wanted list almost immediately after her escape, around June 14, Dmitry Zakhvatov, an advocate, has explained, adding that she made the decision to go to Georgia on her own.

After the blogger's escape, operative agents went around Lander's relatives, trying to find out her whereabouts, Mr Zakhvatov continued. He believes that the Lander's case will be "frozen", since sentencing in absentia rarely occurs in the Russian practice.

There are very few chances to achieve Lander's extradition, since Russia has no agreement on mutual legal assistance with Lithuania, said Vladimir Novitsky, the president of the Russian section of the International Society for Human Rights.