09 July 2019, 22:57
Two-thirds of Russian citizens treat fabrications of drug cases as usual
Only 18% of respondents consider falsification of drug possession cases to be rare incidents, the "Levada Centre" releases the results of its survey after criminal prosecutions of Moscow journalist Ivan Golunov and activists in Northern Caucasus.
On June 7, in Nalchik, Martin Kochesoko, the head of the public organization "Khabze", was detained on suspicion of drug possession. He claims that the drugs were planted to him. In Chechnya, Ruslan Kutaev, the chair of the Assembly of the Peoples of the Caucasus, Zhalaudi Geriev, a correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot", and Oyub Titiev, the head of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" office, were sentenced under similar charges.
66% of respondents interviewed by the "Levada Centre" considered planting of drugs and falsification of criminal cases as a common practice in Russia.
The number of respondents, who evaluated their chances to cope with such a situation independently as low, increased from 36% in March 2014 up to 52% in June 2019.
The survey involved 1608 people in 137 localities in 50 regions of the country.
According to the experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot", the scheme of planting drugs is used by law enforcers because of its simplicity and efficiency. It is necessary to involve an advocate to fight drug planting, explains Yevgeny Chernousov, the retired Colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 9, 2019 at 02:16 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
