Document - Russian Federation: Gasaev released but still in danger
Further information on UA: 01/09 Index: EUR 46/023/2009 Russian Federation Date: 08 September 2009
URGENT ACTION
GASAEV RELEASED BUT STILL IN DANGER
Murad Gasaev was released on 28 August from a detention centre in the southern Russian town of Piatigorsk. Investigators had found no evidence that he had been involved in the June 2004 attack on government buildings in the Russian republic of Ingushetia. However, according to Murat Gasaev’s lawyer, law enforcement officers have repeatedly threatened his brother that Murad Gasaev would come to harm if he were released.
The charges against Murad Gasaevwere dropped on 30 June. All the charges related to his alleged involvement in the June 2004 attack by around 200 members of armed groups on a Ministry of the Interior building in the capital of the Republic of Ingushetia, Nazran. Murad Gasaev's alibi was corroborated by five witnesses, and the only witness who implicated him in the attack retracted his statement during his own trial, saying he had been tortured to make him implicate Murad Gasaev.
The authorities kept Murad Gasaev in custody for almost two months; according to his lawyer, they did this in connection with an unrelated event in August 2003.
Murad Gasaev’s lawyer has expressed deep concern over his client’s safety in Russia, as law enforcement officers had threatened his brother since the beginning of this year that Murad Gasaev would come to harm if he were released, and also threatened his mother and other relatives.
PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Russian, English or your own language:
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Urging the authorities to provide protection for Murad Gasaev and his family.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 16 OCTOBER TO:
Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation
Yurii Ya. Chaika
Ul.Bolshaia Dmitrovka, 15a
Moscow GSP-3
125993 Russian Federation
Fax: +7 495 692 17 25
Salutation: Dear Prosecutor General
Prosecutor of the Republic of Ingushetia
Yurii N. Turygin
Ul.Fabrichnaya, 9
Nazran
386102 Republic of Ingushetia
Russian Federation
Fax: +7 8732 22 15 76
+7 8732 22 17 24
Salutation: Dear Prosecutor
And copies to:
Human Rights Ombudsman of the Russian Federation
Vladimir P.Lukin
Ul. Miasnitskaia, 47
107084 Moscow
Russian Federation
Fax: +7 495 207 39 69
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date. This is the second update of UA: 01/09 Index: EUR 46/001/2009. Further information: www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/EUR46/001/2009/en
URGENT ACTION
GASAEV RELEASED BUT STILL IN DANGER
ADditional Information
Ethnic Chechen Murad Gasaev, who is a Russian citizen, was extradited from Spain on 31 December 2008 after the Spanish authorities received diplomatic assurances from the Russian government that he would not be tortured or otherwise ill-treated. He was held at a detention facility in Moscow, and moved to the pre-trial detention centre in Piatigorsk in January 2009.
According to prosecution, Murad Gasaev was a member of an armed group named Khalifat and "took part in several terrorist attacks against representatives of the state and law enforcement officers in the North Caucasus," including a June 2004 attack on a Ministry of the Interior building in the capital of the Republic of Ingushetia, Nazran.
Murad Gasaev claimed that in August 2004, when he was still in Ingushetia, he was detained for three days by Federal Security Service officers, who tortured and questioned him about the June 2004 attack. After three days of torture he was taken in a van and released in open country. He was not charged at the time, and he later left Russia.
Further information on UA: 01/09 Index: EUR 46/023/2009 Issue Date: 08 September 2009
