Dagestan: Gadjiev's colleagues tell about law enforcers' attempts to disrupt pickets

Policemen tried to hide the posters from passers-by and distracted the picketers, said Idris Yusupov, a journalist with the "Novoye Delo" outlet. The law enforcers' attention to pickets in support of Gadjiev is caused by authorities' desire to stop the protests, Magdi Kamalov, the founder of the "Chernovik" weekly, has suggested.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that colleagues of Abdulmumin Gadjiev, an editor of the "Chernovik" outlet, treat the criminal case against him as political persecution and regularly hold solo pickets in Makhachkala in his support. On December 19, Dagestani journalists demanded to stop prosecuting Gadjiev and Khadjimurad Donogo, a historian.

The editorial board of the "Chernovik" sticks to its position and treats the persecution of Abdulmumin Gadjiev as illegal, Magdi Kamalov has noted. The founder of the "Chernovik" has noted the desire of law enforcers and local authorities to stop the weekly pickets in support of the journalist as a possible reason for increased law enforcers' attention.

Idris Yusupov, the initiator of the picket in support of the historian Khadjimurad Donogo, said that law enforcers tried to disrupt the pickets. "They very insistently demanded to follow them to the police station for drawing up explanations," he has added.

On December 2, Mr Donogo stated that on November 30, law enforcers searched his house and seized books and a computer with valuable historical materials. The search could have been conducted after a denunciation against his publications, the historian has suggested.

Anna Bokler, a journalist and the initiator of the third picket, has pointed out that the holding by Gadjiev's colleagues of solo pickets in his support for three years is an important and rare event. However, Gadjiev's prosecution and the developments around his criminal case do not often go beyond the regional news agenda, she said.