Svetlana Anokhina leaves Dagestan after received threats

Svetlana Anokhina, a Dagestani journalist, has temporarily left the republic after the police refused to investigate telephone threats against her. No official refusal to initiate the case was issued, so an appeal against it is protracted.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in late July, Svetlana Anokhina told the police about threats received from an unknown person who referred to "an order to deal with feminists." Instagram users expressed their confidence that the threats had to do with her professional work and civil position.

On September 10, her publication "Daptar" reported that the police refused to initiate a case upon Anokhina's application "for insufficient grounds". "I have only one explanation for the refusal – the police are sheltering the caller," Ms Anokhina wrote on September 11 on her Instagram.

Now, she has informed that she temporarily left Dagestan for security reasons. According to Svetlana, she still has no official confirmation in hand that the police have refused to open a criminal case on her application.

"I took additional security measures and left Dagestan for a while. Since I received no decision about the refusal to initiate a criminal case, I can't challenge it at the republic's Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA)," she told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 19, 2020 at 00:57 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.