Lawyer Timur Idalov, who is accused of threatening a prosecutor (part 2 of Article 296 of the Criminal Code), was put on the wanted list due to failure to appear at today's hearing in the Khimki City Court. The project “For Human Rights” reports this, citing its defense lawyer in another case, Khamzat Sharo.
According to him, on July 11, Idalov, who is under a ban on certain activities, flew to Chechnya due to health problems with his elderly mother. He planned to return to Moscow on the same day, but in Chechnya the 56-year-old lawyer himself became ill and was hospitalized. Idalov’s defense notified the court and supervisory authorities about this, however, judge Lyudmila Fedorchenko scheduled the next meeting for July 15, at which the accused was supposed to make his last word.
Today a message appeared on the card on the court’s website that “proceedings in the case have been suspended” and “the accused has fled and his whereabouts are unknown.” As a result, as “For Human Rights” writes, at the request of the prosecutor, Idalov’s preventive measure was changed to custody, and he was put on the wanted list.
“The person is undergoing treatment, that is, this is a valid reason for not appearing, despite this, the preventive measure was changed on the very first day when he did not appear. The court did not even make an attempt to establish the reliability of the documents presented if the court doubts them. As far as I know, the court refused to include these documents, although they were presented. The preventive measure was changed to custody for a person who had already been illegally held for three months in a pre-trial detention center,” noted lawyer Sharo.
Before this, according to the case file, hearings were postponed 32 times, 11 of them due to the defendant’s illness.
Timur Idalov was detained on April 12 last year. At first he was sent to a pre-trial detention center, but later the preventive measure was changed. According to investigators, at a meeting on October 3, 2022 in the Nikulinskaya District Court of Moscow, lawyer Idalov, during an altercation with state prosecutor Svetlana Tarasova, said: “What are you, Commissioner Cattani? So they shot him.” Six months later, cases were opened against him for threatening the prosecutor.
The project “For Human Rights” wrote that even before this remark from the lawyer, “Tarasova allowed herself a number of careless statements regarding Idalov.” For example: “To me, too, an artist of large and small academic theaters.” Human rights activists cite the lawyer’s quote as follows: “Commissar Cattani to me too. Cattani was shot long ago.”
At the trial on July 9, according to the project, despite the end of the working day, Judge Fedorchenko did not agree to postpone the hearing and began asking Idalov if he was ready to testify. He replied that he would give them after his defense completed “presenting other evidence.” After this, according to lawyer Khamzat Sharo, the prosecutor requested that the testimony given by Idalov during the preliminary investigation be read out, and the judge granted this request.
Then Idalov decided to refuse Sharo’s services, after which the court was forced to postpone the hearing. The next day, July 10, the court appointed a lawyer for Idalova, despite the fact that he had another lawyer by agreement, “who was not properly notified of the hearing.” As a result, after three remarks, Idalov himself was removed from the trial — without him, only in the presence of an appointed lawyer, debates and remarks on his case took place. The accused had only the last word to make.
Timur Idalov served in the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Chechnya until 1993. In 2003, he was sentenced to 15 years for kidnapping, extortion and weapons possession. In October 2014, the Moscow City Court overturned the conviction and recognized Idalov’s right to rehabilitation.
After his release, he collaborated with the Project for Human Rights and the Foundation for Defense of Prisoners' Rights, specializing in cases related to terrorism.
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