My daughter Yana Bestaeva-Kandelaki, aged 20, was taken for interrogation (directly from her workplace without any sanctions of a prosecutor and informing her parents) by the workers of the State Security Committee of the Republic of South Ossetia in the night of April 4th, 2008.
I received the first information about her in the Public Prosecutor\’s Office of Tskhinvali city the next day. They are hiding my daughter from me. It is already the third day I have been asking for a verdict or release. It is already the third day I have been applying to the Investigator of the Public Prosecutor\’s Office Lepin Aleksey with a request to showing me my 20-year-old daughter. The workers of KGB declared that she was being interrogated on various subjects, like, about travelling to Georgia in summer for a rest, about relatives living in Tbilisi, about terroristic acts in Tskhinvali.. !?
I have not the slightest idea how my daughter is feeling now. I am sure that she may be treated to various psychoactive drugs. Today, all of sudden, I saw her from the distance sitting in one of rooms of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Her look and responses to the questions asked by the Investigator were very deferred, slow and inadequate. This was confirmed by one of my acquaintances, a worker of militia.
I am intending to apply to the Instances of Justice, even to the President of the Republic of South Ossetia and non-governmental organizations of the Republic of South Ossetia. But I was persistently advised not to do it.
“It is useless, pointless, your daughter will be detained as much as it is needed”, told me one of the workers in Public Prosecutor’s Office.
I think that the detainment of my daughter is to some extent related to the public activity of my husband Sarmat Parastaev.
19-04-2008
I am certain that the reason of hiding my daughter from me was a psychological or physical pressure applied to her.
I talked to two attorneys concerning the protection of my daughter’s rights. Both of the attorneys refused to defend my daughter’s rights. One of them said, “No lawyers are required in the Republic of South Ossetia, the investigators of KGB or the Public Prosecutor’s Offices disallow us, the lawyers, to see persons under investigation! It is indeed useless and pointless, but on the other side I am just scared of the future of my own children”.
I even had a meeting with David Sanakoev. He is the head of the Commission on Human rights of the Republic of South Ossetia. His words were as follows, “I do understand the situation clearly, I know that all the actions undertaken by the investigators of KGB and Public Prosecutor’s Office have been illegal since the detainment of Yana Bestaeva. I submitted a written appeal to the Public Prosecutor’s Office to clarify the situation as to the unlawful detainment of Bestaeva in prison. I will do my best to seek an advocatory defense for her.”
The attorneys, David Sanakoev listed the following violations of the rights of my daughter:
1. at the time of detainment her relatives were not informed about it,
2. no attorney was present during the first interrogation,
3. the whereabouts of the detained were hidden from her relatives for three days (from April 17th to 20th, 2008),
4. No charge against her was brought after 48 hours,
5. The detained was not released after 48 hours,
6. It is already 7 days that her relatives have not been allowed to see her,
7. It is already 7 days that no attorneys have been allowed to see her,
8. It is already 7 days that the detained has been in prison without any court sanctions.
I think that the detainment of my daughter is to some extent related to the public activity of my husband Parastaev Sarmat. I have been stopped by the workers of KGB (Guliev), who demanded that I quit talking about the release of Yana Bestaeva. He even threatened me with further the consequences for my family.
I, Mziya Kandelaki, a mother of Bestaeva-Kandelaki, am applying to non-governmental organizations with a view to helping to find an attorney who can defend my rights and the rights of my daughter.
23-04-2008
