Lawyer Ruslan Nurushev detained in case on fakes about Russian Army

Volgograd lawyer Ruslan Nurushev was detained in a case on fakes about the Russian Army for an entry he posted on a social network.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on June 12, law enforcers searched the apartment of lawyer and activist Ruslan Nurushev and seized his computer and mobile phones. On August 22, Ruslan Nurushev said that he had contacted the investigating authorities with a request to return his computer and mobile phones, but his requests were ignored. On September 21, Ruslan Nurushev reported that his mobile phones were returned, but the computer was still kept by the police, since it was still undergoing forensic examination.

A criminal case has been instituted against Volgograd resident Ruslan Nurushev for disseminating fake news about the Russian Army. The reason for the prosecution was his entry on the “VKontakte” social network about a missile strike on Kharkov, the “OVD-Info”* human rights project reported with reference to advocate Eduard Yapparov.

Ruslan Nurushev does not deny it was his post, but does not see it as a crime and does not admit guilt.

Let us remind you that according to the court warrant presented to Ruslan Nurushev during the search in June, it was conducted as part of a criminal case against Evgeny Kochegin*, a former coordinator of an Alexei Navalny’s regional office**. The police explained to Ruslan Nurushev that he was involved in the case as a witness.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.

**The Alexei Navalny’s offices, which earlier operated in the Russian regions, are recognized in Russia as extremist organizations and included in the list of prohibited organizations. The Anti-Corruption Foundation (known as FBK) is an NCO that is included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in the register of NCOs performing functions of a foreign agent, recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation. Alexei Navalny, a founder of the Anti-Corruption Foundation, was included into the register of extremists and terrorists by the “Rosfinmonitoring” (the Russian Federal Service for Financial Monitoring) and was also sentenced to 19 years of imprisonment in a case on extremism. On February 14, it became known that Alexei Navalny had died in the penal colony. He is recognized as a “prisoner of conscience.”