Chechnya court finds legal extension of arrest of Karpyuk, Klykh

The court in Grozny (Chechnya, Russian Federation) dismissed the appeal against the extension of the custodial term of citizens of Ukraine Mykola Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh.

This is reported by Radio Liberty.

The journalists of the Ukrainian and international media could not get to the court hearing. It was explained that only relatives of the defendants had been allowed to attend the hearing as there had been no place in the courtroom. As the Radio Liberty correspondent reports, about fifty people of “athletic appearance” left the hall after the hearing.

“The unprecedented number of local human rights defenders and journalists (who earlier showed little interest in the case) filled the courtroom an hour before the hearing though there was not enough space for the Ukrainian observers, journalists and relatives of the prisoners,” journalist Olha Reshetylova posted on Facebook.

As a reminder, the prosecution states that Klykh and Karpyuk were members of the UNA-UNSO organization, which is recognized extremist and its activity is prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation, and fought against the Russian federal troops within the armed forces of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria in late 1994 – early 1995.

October 12 last year, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Chechnya began consideration of the case on its merits.