Chechen Interior Ministry confirms head of Memorial Human Rights Center’s branch detained
Chechnya’s Interior Ministry has confirmed to TASS the detention of Oyub Titiyev, the head of the Memorial Human Rights Center’s Grozny branch
GROZNY, January 9. /TASS/. Chechnya’s Interior Ministry has confirmed to TASS the detention of Oyub Titiyev, the head of the Memorial Human Rights Center’s Grozny branch, as well as the fact that a bag allegedly containing a drug substance was found in his car.
"During preventive activities, local police stopped Oyub Titiyev, who was driving a Lada Kalina car, for an identity check," the ministry’s spokesman said, adding that "a plastic bag containing about 180 grams of a plant-based substance smelling of marijuana was found in the car." According to him, the substance was seized and sent for an examination to a forensic center.
A source in the Memorial center said earlier that Titiyev had been detained at 10:30 on January 9. The center turned for help to Russian Human Rights Ombudsperson Tatyana Moskalkova and Chairman of the Russian Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights Mikhail Fedotov. Chechnya’s Human Rights Ombudsman Nurdi Nukhazhiyev also reported about Titiyev’s detention and the discovery of a substance smelling of marijuana in his car.