News

Following information reported by media on a meeting of RF Business Ombudsman Boris Titov and businessmen in Moscow pretrial detention center No 5, Chairman of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin has ordered the Committee’s control office to check all the facts independent of what authority is investigating the case.

Mr. Titov reported that he met with 11 businessmen who had signed a petition addressed for the Russian President complaining about inaction of investigators for many months and other violations of their rights during the investigation. In addition, Mr. Titov believes that “their being held in prison is a means of pressure to make the businessman confess.”

Mr. Bastrykin ordered that all that information should be carefully checked looking into each case of violation of rights of the accused individually. The officials of the Investigative Committee are to find out which criminal cases are in question, who of the investigators are investigating them, whether the reasons to place the accused into custody were legal, if there was red tape involved and if there have been any other violations of the rights of the accused.

Decisions will be made following checks into each of the cases reported by Mr. Titov, and the Investigative Committee will by all means let the public know about them via mass media.

Spokesperson for the Investigative Committee                                                                                    Svetlana Petrenko