Advocate states non-admission to detained Arsen Besolov

Arsen Besolov, a Telegram chat administrator, convoyed from Moscow to Vladikavkaz, is restricted in his right to defence, said his advocate. A chat administrator is not responsible for the content of participants' comments, said Galina Arapova, Director of the Media Rights Protection Centre.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Arsen Besolov, the administrator of the Telegram chat, which was used for communication of supporters of Vadim Cheldiev, the initiator of an unsanctioned rally against self-isolation in Vladikavkaz, was detained on April 29 in Moscow and extradited to the capital of North Ossetia.

On April 30, during the day, Kamilla Dzotsieva, an advocate for Arsen Besolov, was not able to visit her client. "They didn't let me to see him; and I don't know yet what he is suspected of ... The human rights ombudsman came to him, made sure that everything was OK with him, but no one has explained his rights to him and informed him that his advocates were standing in the street willing to visit him; thus, our meeting failed," Ms Dzotsieva said on April 30.

If the administrator of a private chat on the Telegram is persecuted for the content thereof, then this is a consequence of the application of the so-called "Yarovaya law", said Galina Arapova, Director of the Media Rights Protection Centre. In her opinion, the chat administrator should not respond for what other participants wrote.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 1, 2020 at 04:50 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.