Advocate states that key witness in Sentsov's case was tortured

Gennady Afanasiev, the key witness in Sentsov's case, was tortured during the investigation, said his advocate Alexander Popkov after visiting his client at the SIZO (pre-trial prison).

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Oleg Sentsov and Alexander Kolchenko were among the group of four people detained on May 30, 2014, in the Crimea; and law enforcers treat them as members of the "Right-Wing Sector", an organization banned in Russia. The other two – Gennady Afanasiev and Alexei Chirnij – signed an agreement on cooperation with investigators and were convicted earlier to seven years in prison each.

"Afanasiev is intimidated and pressed; he is in a difficult psychological condition," the lawyer Alexander Popkov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Mr Popkov visited his client at the SIZO of the FSB in Rostov-on-Don. "During the investigation, Afanasiev was beaten up, tortured, threatened, mainly in the Crimea, but also in the SIZO 'Lefortovo' in Moscow," said the lawyer, adding: "Afanasiev also said that he had nothing to do with any nationalistic and terrorist groupings, and was not a member of the 'Right-Wing Sector'."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.