Human rights defenders report about new practice of preventive police registration in Dagestan

In Dagestan, the police have changed their registration tactics, and now they visit those put on the preventive police registration list under the pretext of a population census or request them to send photographs from their place of residence, reports the “Memorial” Centre for Defence of Human Rights.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that in March 2017, Dagestani Interior Minister announced the destruction of orders on preventive registration under the “extremist” category. However, the human rights defenders complained that the practice of preventive police registration for believers in the republic was preserved.

The police of Dagestan continues to keep their preventive registration list, but they deny an existence of such lists in their official responses to complaints, while preventive work is taking “more and more sophisticated forms,” stated the “Memorial” Centre for Defence of Human Rights.

Residents of Dagestan report receiving summons to the police because of possible preventive police registration. “Most often such summons are sent to residents of Dagestan who visit mosques not related to the official clergy, communicate with students of Islamic educational institutions abroad, or wear a long beard, a hijab/niqab. The police write down personal data of the people and check the contents of their mobile phones,” the human rights defenders note.

In particular, Vazir Bazanaev, a resident of the village of Chinar, was put on the preventive police registration list in 2013 due to the fact that he visited a mosque in Derbent. The man faces problems with employment because of the constant interest to him from the police.