Defence treats criminal prosecution of Naptugov and Kuzhev, Cherkessk residents, as unjustified

The case materials on an extremist community contain no proofs of the guilt of Aslan Naptugov and Oleko Kuzhev, residents of the city of Cherkessk, their advocates have stated. Naptugov treats his criminal case as political persecution.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in February 2023, the Cherkessk City Court extended the arrest of Aslan Naptugov, Vladimir Ilyichev, Abdulmalik Shoev, Oleko Kuzhev from Cherkessk, accused of participating in an extremist community, as well as of Adnan Meremshaov, who is also charged with illegal dealing of explosives. Investigators have failed to present any proofs of defendants' guilt, one of the advocates has stated.

Investigators claim that from the summer of 2019 to the end of 2020, in the KChR, an unidentified person, "guided by the ideology" of the "Union of Rus' Slavic Forces" (USSR)*, set up an extremist community aimed at violently changing the constitutional order.

Apart from Naptugov, the indictment lists 10 more people. Investigators believe that from 2020 to May 24, 2022, they disseminated information on the Internet and in KChR's state bodes about the continued existence of the USSR/RSFSR, denied the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the legitimacy of Russian authorities and laws.

The prosecution considers Oleko Kuzhev to be the organizer of a criminal grouping, who hated Russian authorities and was committed to the ideology of restoring the USSR.

Kuzhev's advocate has noted that his client has been kept at the SIZO (pre-trial prison) for more than two years, which has a negative impact on his health condition.

"Not a single witness said that Kuzhev was an extremist, spoke out against the Russian government or called for extremism. Everyone described him positively as a public figure, who built a hippodrome, organized horse races, chess tournaments, translated fairy tales into the Abaza language," the advocate has emphasized, expressing concern that people who provide assistance to the population in the housing and communal services sector are being prosecuted as terrorists and extremists.

*In 2019, the Supreme Court of the Komi Republic recognized the "Union of Rus' Slavic Forces" (one of the group of movements that also includes "USSR Citizens") as an extremist organization.