Well-known defense attorney is arrested in Chechnya and whisked to Moscow to face charges for threatening a prosecutor

Police arrested defense attorney Timur Idalov in Grozny and transported him to Moscow to face charges for threatening a public prosecutor in October 2022 during a trial. Idalov was previously arrested for the same incident in April 2023 but later released from jail. He could face up to two years in prison if convicted.

Timur Idalov has worked as a defense counsel for accused extremists and terrorists, as well as human rights activist Lev Ponomaryov and Marat Kadyrov, who was involved in a case with former Khabarovsk Governor Sergey Furgal. In the 1990s, Idalov was convicted of kidnapping and drug trafficking, but the European Court of Human Rights later awarded him compensation when he sued over an unfair trial and torture in custody.