Dagestani court refuses to consider Idris Yusupov’s lawsuit about unjustified detention

The Sovietsky District Court of Makhachkala has refused to consider a journalist Idris Yusupov's lawsuit against the Dagestani Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) about his unjustified detention in September 2022 during an anti-mobilization protest.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 26, 2022, Makhachkala townspeople went out to a rally against mobilization; some were detained, including Idris Yusupov, a journalist of the "Novoye Delo” (New Cause) outlet, who came to professionally cover the rally. He said that law enforcers conducted detentions excessively harshly; the detainees spent the whole night at the police station; they had to sleep on benches; and even a pregnant woman was left there for the night.

The judge has explained his refusal by the fact that Idris Yusupov had allegedly failed to provide any proofs of the facts he stated in his lawsuit, the “Kavkaz.Realii”* project has reported. However, at the previous sessions, Yusupov stated that he had video and audio records and was ready to give the names of witnesses who would confirm that he was kept at the police station after the detention.

The lawsuit was sent to the MIA, and at the trial, the defendant's representative claimed that Idris Yusupov had not been detained, the “Memorial” Centre for Human Rights Defence has informed.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.