(Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) – Human rights groups in Russia and abroad are condemning the detention of a leading activist in Chechnya on a narcotics charge they contend was fabricated, and are calling for his immediate release.
In a January 10 statement, the Moscow-based Committee for the Prevention of Torture (KPP) called Oyub Titiyev's detention an "abduction" and said his rights under the Russian Constitution and other laws were blatantly violated.
Hours after colleagues at the prominent Russian human rights group Memorial raised the alarm when Titiyev — the head of its Chechnya office — failed to show up for a meeting with an acquaintance on January 9, Chechen officials said he had been detained.
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