Dagestani activists demand protection from law enforcers' pressure

Law enforcers are trying to intimidate advocates and human rights defenders, stated members of the "Solidarity and Freedom", outraged by the pressure on the advocate, Sapiyat Magomedova, and deputy chairman of the Dagestani Public Oversight Commission (POC), Uma Askerkhanova.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that human rights defenders failed to hold a press conference on law enforcers' arbitrariness scheduled for September 3 in the Makhachkala POC's office, as policemen cordoned off the territory; they claimed that they had received a message about the planted bomb. As a result, the press conference was held in some other place in the abridged format.

The press conference was dated to the Solidarity Day in Fight Against Terrorism marked on September 3, Djambulat Gasanov, an activist and rights defender, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"We wanted to draw attention to the fact that at present we see terror used by some law enforcers or structures affiliated with them. And the recent events, when they tried to break into the apartment of the advocate, Sapiyat Magomedova and later, under the same scenario, to Uma Askerkhanova, the deputy chair of the regional POC, have only confirmed this," Mr Gasanov has stated.

The Public Committee "Solidarity and Freedom" has decided to appeal to the Republic's Prosecutor's Office and the regional branch of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), as well as to the head of Dagestan with a demand to take under special control and ensure an objective investigation of "the cases of attempted terror against Askerkhanova and Magomedova."

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 4, 2020 at 10:06 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.