Oyub Titiev, the head of human rights group Memorial in Chechnya, attends his verdict hearing at a court in the town of Shali, in Chechnya, Russia, March 18, 2019. REUTERS/Said Tsarnayev
March 18, 2019
SHALI, Russia (Reuters) – A court in Chechnya on Monday sentenced Oyub Titiev, a prominent human rights activist, to four years in a penal colony after finding him guilty of possessing illegal drugs, a charge his supporters say was trumped up.
Titiev, who runs the office of the Memorial Human Rights Centre in the southern Russian region, was detained in January last year by police who said they had found 206.9 grams (7.3 oz) of cannabis in his car after stopping him to check his documents.
(Reporting by Maria Vasilyeva; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Andrew Osborn)
