Chechnya court sentences rights activist Oyub Titiev to 4 years in penal colony

A court in Chechnya on Monday sentenced Oyub Titiev, a prominent human rights activist, to four years in a penal colony after finding him guilty of possessing illegal drugs, a charge his supporters say was trumped up.

Titiev, who runs the office of the Memorial Human Rights Centre in the southern Russian region, was detained in January last year by police who said they had found 206.9 grams (7.3 oz) of cannabis in his car after stopping him to check his documents.