16:16, 25 June 2025

Kaituev’s colleagues report about deterioration in his health state

Zaur Kaituev. Photo provided to the “Caucasian Knot”.

The health state of Makhachkala advocate Zaur Kaituev worsened after he was beaten by law enforcers, and the man required hospitalization. The law enforcers used threats to force the advocate to unblock his mobile phone and gained access to confidential information on his cases, the Dagestani Bar Association claims.

“They tired my hands with tape from behind, put a plastic bag on my head and taped it up, after which I was hit on the head and lost consciousness. When I regained consciousness, I said again that I was a defence lawyer ... After that, they took me up to either the second or third floor, where I stayed for another hour with the plastic bag on my head and my hands tied,” states advocate Zaur Kaituev in his complaint. After some time, the law enforcers removed the plastic bag from the Zaur Kaituev’s head, apologized, and led him out of the building through the back entrance. About twenty defence lawyers expressed their willingness to represent the Zaur Kaituev’s interests. Several of them tried to get into the law enforcement body building to visit him, but were not allowed in.

In addition to abrasions and bruises, medical officers diagnosed Zaur Kaituev with a brain concussion and a closed craniocerebral injury. On June 23, Zaur Kaituev required hospitalization because of his worsening condition, headaches, and leg spasms, the Dagestani Bar Association reported.

Just six days before his beating, Zaur Kaituev was discharged from the hospital, where he underwent a complex spinal surgery on implantation of an intervertebral disc. On the day of the beating, he was wearing a special protective corset, which he warned the law enforcers about, and was physically weak.

Lawyers from the Dagestani Bar Association claimed that after the beating, the law enforcers “used threats to force Zaur Kaituev to unblock his mobile phone, (...) checked it for any incriminating materials against them, examined, and discussed the information stored on the defence lawyer’s personal mobile phone regarding his legal proceedings and constituting attorney-client privilege.”

On June 20, the Zaur Kaituev’s defence team filed a complaint with the Investigating Department for Makhachkala of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) regarding the attack, kidnapping, infliction of injuries, and obstruction of the defence lawyer’s activities. The investigation materials on the complaint state that Zaur Kaituev was subjected to violence by “unidentified employees” of the Centre for Combating Extremism (CCE, also known as “Centre E”), and an investigator qualified their actions as abuse of office with the use of violence (Part 3 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of the Russian federation), the Dagestani Bar Association reports on its official website.

The investigator ordered a forensic medical examination for Zaur Kaituev to be carried out at the Republican Emergency Hospital.

“The Bar Association, together with the initiative group of defence lawyers for the protection of the Zaur Kaituev’s rights, is monitoring the course of events in the case and will take all necessary measures to ensure a proper and legal investigation into the criminal actions against the defence lawyer,” the Dagestani Bar Association reports in its statement.

This was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 24, 2025 at 07:52 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Caucasian Knot