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Last “Hope”of Chechen Refugees Imprisoned

December 30, 2005

Last “Hope”of Chechen Refugees Imprisoned

The founder of the only humanitarian organization in the Pankisi gorge Magomed Mahaev is sentenced to three months of preliminary detention following a decision of the City Court. His organisation is accused of cooperation with terrorist organization Al Qaeda.

On December 28th the Tbilisi City Court sentenced Chechen refugee Magomed Mahaev to three-month of pretrial detention. He is accused of falsification of documents, abuse of position and the pocketing of 24 000 GEL.
Humanitarian organization “Imedi” (Hope), founded by Mahaev in 2003, assisted Chechen Refugees in the Pankisi gorge with food and other useful goods. According to the investigators, those donor organizations that financed Imedi have ties with Al Qaeda.

The Human Rights Information and Documentation Centre’s Executive Director Ucha Nanuashvili stated: “The accusation is absurd; one of the donor organizations ‘Muslim Hands’ is partner of The Red Cross. Factually, the investigation also accuses these organizations of being tied to Al Qaeda.”
Imedi’s donor organizations Red Cross, Muslim Helfen and Muslim Hands support humanitarian activities in several countries of the world.

The Human Rights Center asks for an alternative provisional measure than that of pretrial detention and declares that there is no threat that Mahaev will hide from investigation. According to lawyer Davit Managadze “the investigation is biased, they do not take all existing evidence into consideration. There is no reason for Mahaev’s imprisonment; the statement of the investigation that Mahaev may leave the country is unreasonable, as his passport was taken away.”

The General Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the case from July 2005 onwards. During this period Mahaev did not hide from investigators.
The Chechen Refugees Rights Protection Coordinating Council agreed to stand as guarantor for Mahaev. They are sure that Mahaev will not hide from trial. “We are petrified because of this trial. Like this, they can accuse every Chechen of terrorism. They were investigating this organization’s activity for months and could not find anything, their arguments are not reasonable”- said a representative of the Coordinating Council.

All humanitarian activities unfolded by Imedi in the Pankisi gorge are stopped.

Ana Chkhaidze

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