Russian human rights body urges Interior Ministry control over case of Memorial’s Titiyev

The Russian Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights expects that the Interior Ministry will send its staff to Chechnya and establish procedural control over the investigation of the case against Oyub Titiyev, the head of the Memorial Human Rights Center’s branch in Grozny. The statement came from the council’s head, Mikhail Fedotov, RIA Novosti reports. A criminal case over illegal drug possession was earlier initiated in the Russian republic. “He doesn’t plead guilty,” TASS quoted Kheda Saratova, a member of the regional Human Rights Council, as saying on Wednesday. “He also says that law enforcers did not take any illegal actions against him,” she added. Titiyev was detained on January 9. Memorial turned for help to Fedotov and Russian Human Rights Ombudsperson Tatyana Moskalkova.