DUSHANBE, March 28, 2013, Asia-Plus — Adim Shabozbekov, Tajik student at Moscow-based Peoples” Friendship University of Russia (PFUR), has been held in one of Moscow’s pretrial detention facilities for more than a month on suspicion that he had stolen mobile phone.
The news website, MR7.ru, reports Adim has been charged with robbery only on the grounds that he purchased the stolen iPhone.
Ms. Tatiana Kirpichenko, defense lawyer of Shabozbekov in Moscow, says her client purchased iPhone 5 on December 31 from a person, “whom he found several days before through an announcement in Internet.” On February 13, Shabozbekov was arrested.
Investigators suppose that he stole the mobile phone from a resident of Moscow on December 31, at 01:30 am, not far from the Nakhimoskiy Prospekt subway station.
“Meanwhile, Adim has an alibi for this time; at this time, he was in PFUR dormitory, which located near the Yugo-Zapadnaya subway station. Surveillance camera shows him entering his room at 1:20 am. His roommate — student from China – has confirmed that,” Shabozbekov’s lawyer said.
According to her, the charges brought against Shabozbekov are based only on testimony of the young woman who was robbed the Nakhimoskiy Prospekt subway station on December 31. According to investigators, she identified Adim as the assailant.
The lawyer, however, considers that she did that under pressure from investigators. “During the first identification parade, she did not identify Adim as the attacker and her testimony changed after conversation with investigators,” Kirpichenko noting that police even did not check Adim’s alibi.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Egamzod, an official representative of the Tajik Embassy in Moscow, says all necessary assistance will be rendered to Adim Shabozbekov.
