Verdict due in rights activist's case in Russia's Chechnya
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A court in Russia's Chechnya is due to issue its verdict Monday in the case of a prominent rights activist.
Oyub Titiyev was detained in January 2018 and charged with drug possession in what has been largely perceived as a vendetta against this rare critic of the Chechen government.
Titiyev was the head of the Chechen office of prominent rights group Memorial and played a major role in exposing extrajudicial killings, kidnappings and torture perpetrated by the Chechen government.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who previously dismissed rights activists as liars and traitors, publicly called the 61-year-old Titiyev a "junkie." Titiyev's supporters say the case aims not only to silence the activist, who is known as a devout Muslim, but also discredit him in the eyes of the community.