Attack on Totrov treated as obstruction to journalist's work

The North-Ossetian Investigating Committee has opened a criminal case on the attack on the journalist, Ruslan Totrov, under the article on obstruction to journalistic activities with the use of violence.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 21, Ruslan Totrov, a blogger and journalist of the "OsNova" edition, was attacked at his workplace in Vladikavkaz; his two teeth were broken and his lip was smashed. Totrov said the attackers claimed they were unhappy with his critical publications about the South-Ossetian president. Both men arrived in a state-owned South-Ossetian car with license plates 555, Totrov has added.

According to his story, the attackers were people from the closest circle of Bibilov, the president. In particular, one of them is a Deputy Minister of Defence of South Ossetia.

"They have been identified as Sergey Kabisov, a Deputy Defence Minister of South Ossetia, and Ruslan Tandelov, a resident of Vladikavkaz. A criminal case has been initiated against them under Part 3, Article 144, of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation 'Obstruction of the legitimate professional activities of journalists' with the use of violence. This is very exotic not only for the Caucasus, but also for Russia as a whole: only 6-7 cases are opened under all parts of this article a year in Russia, let alone Part 3 thereof – in Northern Caucasus, there is no law enforcement practice [under this part of the article] at all," Ruslan Totrov has stated.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 5, 2021 at 10:18 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.