Reporters treat Geriev as victim to war on dissent in Chechnya

The sentence to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent Zhalaudi Geriev indicates that in Chechnya it is in fact impossible to work for journalists of the mass media not subordinated to the authorities, said the journalists Nikita Sologub, Irina Gordienko and Ilya Azar.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the court sentenced Zhalaudi Geriev to three years of imprisonment on the charge of possession of marijuana. Zhalaudi Geriev testified to investigators under pressure and retracted his confession at trial. The defence has challenged the sentence at the court of appeal and pointed out to numerous examples of falsification in the case materials, evident contradictions in the prosecutors' version, and involvement of "hired" witnesses by the police.

Nikita Sologub, a correspondent of the "Mediazona", the laureate in the nomination "Journalist of the Year" by the GQ Magazine, mentioned Geriev during the awarding ceremony.

Later, Mr Sologub explained in his conversation with the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that "in this way he wanted to draw public attention to Geriev's case." He is sure that the case was falsified.

Irina Gordienko, a special correspondent of the "Novaya Gazeta", said that she had signed the petition in support of Geriev on the "Change.org" website.

"There is no doubt that Geriev suffered for his professional activities; the verdict for drug possession is just formal," she told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, expressing confidence that the drugs had been planted on Geriev. "I've absolutely no doubts that Geriev has nothing to do with drug possession. He is prosecuted for his professional activities," said Ms Gordienko.

Moscow journalists "have virtually no chances to work in Chechnya," Ilya Azar, a special correspondent of the "Meduza", has marked.

He recalled that in May he was detained by police in Grozny, after he had photographed the burned down house of relatives of the alleged attacker on the checkpoint in Chechnya.

"I was detained and interrogated for four hours at the department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) just for inspecting the burnt-down house of the militant's family," said Ilya Azar, emphasizing that "methods of Chechen power agents in fighting the dissent are no secret to anyone. We can only join the calls to release Geriev, or demand a revision of his case in some other region of Russia."

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