The relatives of Gadzhiev, Tambiev, and Rizvanov are seeking international attention for their case.

Relatives of Dagestani journalist Abdulmumin Gadzhiev and those convicted alongside him, Kemal Tambiev and Abubakar Rizvanov, are collecting signatures for an open letter to the international community calling for assistance in their release.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", in July, the Supreme Court of Russia upheld the sentence against Abdulmumin Gadzhiev, Kemal Tambiev, and Abubakar Rizvanov. The editorial board of the Dagestani newspaper "Chernovik" continues to consider Abdulmumin Gadzhiev innocent, his colleagues reminded on the seventh anniversary of his detention.

The open letter to the international community calling for the release of Abdulmumin Gadzhiev, Kemal Tambiev, and Abubakar Rizvanov was published by the relatives of the convicts on the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists on November 2 on a specially created website Free AKA.

This website is also collecting signatures for the letter: as of 00:50 Moscow time on November 5, 557 people and six public organizations supported the appeal. The campaign organizers note that signatures are manually verified and appear on the site within 24-48 hours. Signatures are stored in encrypted form; for signatories from Russia, there is an option to support the appeal without publishing their name on the site.

The authors of the letter note that journalist Abdulmumin Gadzhiev, entrepreneur Kemal Tambiev, and public figure Abubakar Rizvanov have “not been free for a single hour” since their detention on June 14, 2019. Gadzhiev is the father of four children, Tambiev raised two children, and Rizvanov has seven.

“They were accused of financing terrorism and participating in a terrorist organization. No contact with terrorists, no transfers to a terrorist organization have been proven. [...] Donations, visiting a mosque, and a newspaper interview were presented to the court as a 'mechanism of a terrorist network,'” the letter states.

The authors of the publication note that Judge Rizvan Zubairov, who was part of the panel, disagreed with the verdict. “He expressed a dissenting opinion: the accusation is based on assumptions, and the testimony obtained from Kemal Tambiev on the day of his detention is inadmissible evidence,” the relatives of the convicts indicate.

They reminded that Tambiev gave his testimony after being beaten and in the absence of a lawyer, and just two days later he retracted it. No criminal case was initiated based on his statement about the beating.

The letter also notes that the European Court of Human Rights found violations of Abdulmumin Gadzhiev's rights under three articles of the European Convention on Human Rights. “The publication that the prosecution presented as propaganda for a terrorist network is, for the European Court, an exercise of freedom of speech,” the text emphasizes.

The three convicts are currently in different prisons “thousands of kilometers apart from each other and from their families,” while thirteen children are growing up without fathers.

“We are not asking for leniency, transfer, or improvement of conditions. An innocent person does not need better conditions in prison. He needs to get out of it. We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Abdulmumin Gadzhiev, Kemal Tambiev, and Abubakar Rizvanov,” the letter states. It is addressed to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Russian Federation, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, as well as the governments of OSCE member states and international human rights and journalism organizations.

The authors of the campaign for the release of Gadzhiev, Tambiev, and Rizvanov urge the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to recognize the imprisonment of all three as arbitrary and demand their immediate release. They ask the UN Special Rapporteur on Russia to include the case in the next report to the Human Rights Council “as an example of the application of anti-terrorism legislation against journalists and religious communities in the North Caucasus.” The European Parliament and the OSCE are requested to “name the three by name” in resolutions and statements regarding political prisoners in Russia, while other addressees are urged to advocate for the release of the convicts.

"Caucasian Knot" also reported that in the summer of 2025, the sister of the convict accused of financing terrorism Abubakar Rizvanov faced pressure from security forces. After that, the woman announced that she was closing the production and sale of cosmetics under the brand Halal Cosmetics in Dagestan. Employees of the company will also leave the republic, said Zumrud Rizvanova.