Rights defenders declare Dagestani accused of terrorism political prisoner

Gamid Dataev, a native of Dagestan, as well as the Muslims Artyom Vatrya and Bekhruz Ganiev, were unreasonably accused of creating a terrorist community and participating therein in the Khanty-Mansiysk Okrug, and of a number of other crimes. This was stated by human rights defenders, who have demanded to stop prosecuting the men and release them from custody.

"Gamid Dataev, Artyom Vatrya and Bekhruz Ganiev are accused with clearly trumped-up charges under terrorist articles, as well as articles on possessing weapons and narcotic drugs," says the Telegram channel of the human rights project "Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial".

In 2018, Artyom Vatrya spoke about law enforcers' actions in Lyantor, a town in the Surgut District of the above Okrug; law enforcers used to beat up local Muslims, opened criminal cases against them and imposed fines. After publicity, oppressions of Muslims stopped.

In April 2020, Dataev, Vatrya and Ganiev were detained and charged with possessing weapons and explosives; Dataev was also accused of drug storing. They asserted that these items were planted on them. In December 2020, a new case was opened against Dataev on charges of creating a terrorist community, and against Vatrya and Ganiev – of participating therein. According to the prosecution, they were members of a unit of the terrorist organization "Imarat Kavkaz"** and were "preparing for jihad." Their testimonies were knocked out under torture, and they were under psychological pressure.

The prosecutor's office refused to check the defenders' complaints about torture.

The "Caucasian Knot" has also reported that the "Support for Political Prisoners" project had declared Maxim Rachkov, a resident of Rostov-on-Don, suspected of spreading fakes about the Russian Army, a political prisoner.