FSA treats repressions against journalists in Northern Caucasus as toughest in Russia

At a press conference held on May 23, members of the Free Speech Association (FSA) presented a report on the situation with freedom of speech and freedom of creativity in Russia in 2016-2017. The FSA members described repressions in Northern Caucasus regions as the most severe ones, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The report was presented by Nadezhda Azhgikhina, the former secretary of the Russian Union of Journalists, a FSA member, and Alexei Simonov, President of the Glasnost Defence Foundation.

In Russia, according to the report, the number of cases of criminal prosecution of journalists and bloggers has recently increased, and bloggers are increasingly being subjected to it. In 2016, 47 cases of criminal prosecution were registered, and bloggers are involved in 19 of them.

The most severe cases of such repression are typical for the regions of Northern Caucasus.

"This is obvious, since we see what kind of people are adopting laws there," said Alexei Simonov.

According to Nadezhda Azhgikhina, the report mentions the cases against Zhalaudi Geriev, a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, and human rights defender Ruslan Kutaev as the examples of falsification of criminal cases. She has also noted that the murder of Akhmednabi Akhmednabiyev, a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, remains unsolved.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.