Dagestani SC cancels permit for action in support of journalist Gadjiev

The Supreme Court (SC) has upheld the officials of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) of Dagestan on the issue of demonstration in support of the arrested journalist Abdulmumin Gadjiev. Gadjiev's relatives are not able to visit him in the SIZO (pre-trial prison) for the second month, the journalist's mother said.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 25, a Makhachkala court satisfied the suit lodged by the organizers of the action in support of Abdulmumin Gadjiev, a journalist of the "Chernovik" (Draft) weekly edition. The refusal of the Dagestan MoJ to sanction the action was declared illegal. However, the MoJ has appealed against the judgement.

Earlier, bureaucrats had on "far-fetched reasons rejected notifications about public actions in support of Gadjiev," Marat Ismailov, who is representing the claimants, has stated. According to his version, authorities are looking for any reasons for protract the process so as not to sanction the action.

So far, none of Gadjiev's relatives managed to visit him in the SIZO, Zagidat Gadjieva, Abdulmumin's mother, has informed.

The journalist does not share his complaints about the custody conditions with his relatives. "My son is a big optimist; he doesn't lose his heart. In his letters to me he writes that he is doing well; he has the opportunity to read the Koran and his favourite books," said the mother.

Magdi Kamalov, the founder of the "Chernovik", and Gadjimurad Sagitov, the editor-in-chief of the "Novoye Delo" (New Cause), are confident of Abdulmumin Gadjiev's innocence of.

The persecution of Gadjiev is backed by law enforcers' desire to close the "Chernovik", or to change its editorial policy, the team of the edition has stated.