On the morning of 28 April 2023, the policemen organized the search of the Crew’s office and the domiciles of its three lawyers. The search in the office was carried out without any incidents and in the presence of an attorney, Mr. Artem Nikitin. However, during the search of the flat of Olga Sadovskaya, a laptop, a telephone and 80 hunting cartridges belonging to her ex-husband were seized.

The CAT’s lawyers were also interrogated in connection with a particular criminal case initiated in North Ossetia: a defendant there is an individual who reported use of torture. We do not disclose the details of that criminal case, as the interests of the applicant are at stake.

According to Oleg Khabibrakhmanov, the CAT’s head of public investigations division, «law enforcement officers are using the criminal case opened against our applicant to put pressure on one of the few human rights organizations that continue to work in Russia.»

Earlier, the searches were carried out at the Crew’s office in Pyatigorsk: the police officers were looking for documents related to the mentioned criminal case. As at the present time, no relevant documents had been found.