Adam Osmayev, the main suspect in the case involving the preparation of terrorist attacks against the Russian president, has been recognized as a victim in a torture case.
Olga Chertok, a lawyer for Osmayev, told Interfax her client has
recently been taken from the detention facility to Odesa city
prosecutor’s office, where he was told he had been recognized as a
victim in a case involving the use of torture during a pretrial
investigation.
Interfax has not received confirmation of this information from Odesa prosecutors yet.
It was reported earlier that Adam Osmayev was detained in Odesa on
February 4, 2012 on suspicion of carrying out a bomb attack on
Tyraspolska Street earlier the same day. The blast killed 26-year-old
Russian citizen Ruslan Madayev and seriously injured Pyanzin, a
28-year-old citizen of Kazakhstan.
The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office later forwarded a criminal
case opened by the police on charges of “careless handling of weapons,
ammunition, or explosives” to the Ukrainian Security Service department
for Odesa region. It turned out that investigators had found elements of
improvised explosive devices at the fire scene. Pyanzin was also
detained and started actively cooperating with the investigation.
The Ukrainian Security Service confirmed on February 27 that Osmayev
and Pyanzin had plotted to murder Putin after the presidential elections
in Russia scheduled for March 2012 and that Ukrainian and Russian
intelligence services had thwarted the alleged plan.
Russia asked Ukraine in summer 2012 to hand over Osmayev and Pyanzin,
but the men’s defense lawyers contested the prosecutor’s decision on
their extradition. Despite the fact that the courts upheld the
extradition to Russia, the delay enabled Osmayev’s lawyers to file a
claim contesting his extradition with the European Court of Human
Rights. The lawyers for Pyanzin prepared to file a similar claim but
failed to make it before Pyanzin was extradited to Russia in late August
2012. In Russia, he recanted the evidence he had given in Ukraine.
The investigation into the criminal case involving Osmayev was
completed in fall 2012. On November 16, an indictment was approved,
which was sent to Odesa Primorsky District Court. A private hearing of
the case was held on December 5. The court then declined the request
made by Osmayev’s defense lawyers for an additional investigation. The
first hearing of the case was held on December 24.
The lawyers for Osmayev have complained more than once that the
Ukrainian law enforcement agencies were restricting his right to
defense. Osmayev also said he had been pressured by investigations from
the Ukrainian Security Service.
