Video of protest in Beslan fails to convince Court of Emma Tagaeva's innocence

On October 27, the Supreme Court (SC) of North Ossetia started the next court hearing in the case against female activists of the "Voice of Beslan" with viewing of a video record of the protest action of September 1, 2016, provided by the Department for the Pravoberezhny District of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 1, in Beslan, law enforcers detained women involved in a protest action, who came dressed in the T-shirts with accusations against the President of Russia. The Pravoberezhny Court of North Ossetia found them guilty of violating the public order. The Court sentenced four female activists to 20 hours of community service and fined two others 20,000 roubles.

The video record of the event of September 1, 2016, at the Beslan School was edited in a way beneficial for the police. However, after the video record had been reviewed at the court, mothers of the children killed in the terror act claimed it was still enough to remove accusations of offences from the activists of the "Voice of Beslan".

Emma Tagaeva, whose complaint was considered at the court hearing, drew the court's attention to the fact that the video record showed no inscriptions or shouts with accusations against President Putin.

Contrary to the expectations of the female activists, the consideration of the Emma Tagaeva's appeal was finished not in acquittal of the defendant, but in reduction of the amount of her fine.

The SC has commuted the article of the charge against Emma Tagaeva by finding her a participant and not an organizer of the picket. According to the Court's decision, the amount of the fine to be paid by the defendant was reduced from 20,000 down to 10,000 roubles.

Meanwhile, the judge read out the definition of the word "picketing" from the Federal Law No. 54 and referred to the photographs in the case. Then, the judge found that Emma Tagaeva still took part in the picket. "The photo depicts the women with slogans on T-shirts, and this is a demonstration in a public place in order to attract public attention," the judge explained her position.

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