Week in the Caucasus: review of main events of September 5-11, 2022

Elections in Southern Russia; persecution of pacifists in the southern regions of Russia; an attack on a “Caucasian Knot” correspondent in Elista, – see the review of these events in the Caucasus during the week of September 5-11, 2022, prepared by the “Caucasian Knot”.

Elections in Southern Russia

On September 9-11, the regions of the North-Caucasian Federal District and the Southern Federal District hosted the local elections, as well as the elections of members of the Legislative Assembly of Kuban, the Parliament of North Ossetia, and the City Duma of Cherkessk. In total, ten regions of the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) and the Southern Federal District (SFD) held the voting in the elections of heads of 182 settlements and members of 255 municipal assemblies, follows from the information released by the Central Election Commission (CEC).

On September 9, the very first day of the voting in the Kuban, members of the election commissions complained about violations. On September 10, in Krasnodar, there were attempts to organize a repeat voting and manipulations with the lists of voters. Furthermore, members of the commissions and observers reported about violations in Gelendzhik, Anapa, Krasnodar, Pavlovskaya, and Tikhoretsk District. Kuban ranked second in Russia in terms of the number of complaints about electoral violations: at least 185 complaints were filed. More complaints were received only from Moscow. The main trends of the elections were the restriction of the rights of citizens to control the activities of the election commissions and pressure on candidates and observers, reports the Movement for the Protection of Voters’ Rights “Golos”* (Vote).

On September 11, members of the Adygea parliament voted for republic’s leader Murat Kumpilov and elected him for the second term. According to analysts, there is no real competition for the leader of Adygea, who has good support in the Kremlin.

Persecution of pacifists in southern regions of Russia

In Southern Russia, the persecution of residents who oppose the special military operation in Ukraine and related events continues. On September 8, a court fined Yevgeny Lavrik, a resident of the Stavropol Territory, finding him guilty of discrediting the Russian Armed Forces. In Kizlyar, a court imposed an administrative penalty on Mardjina Ramazanova for discrediting the Russian Armed Forces. Besides, Maxim Nagibin, a rector of a temple in Kuban, was also accused of discrediting the Russian troops. The protocol was drawn up after a denunciation reporting about a sermon posted on social media, in which Maxim Nagibin spoke about the situation in Ukraine. On September 9, in Novorossiysk, law enforcers detained blogger Askhabali Alibekov, well-known as the “Wild Paratrooper” blogger. A wife of Askhabali Alibekov noted that a criminal case had been instituted against her husband for the repeated discrediting of the Russian Armed Forces because of the videos on the Internet. A court pronounced against the activist the pre-trial restriction measure in the form of a recognizance not to leave the country with a number of restrictions, including on the use of the Internet. On September 9, in Volgograd, a court fined local resident Vitaly Gotra under the article about discrediting the Russian Armed Forces for posting pacifist leaflets. The local resident spent 21 days under arrest, after which the director of the printing house where Vitaly Gotra worked asked him to write a voluntarily letter of resignation. On September 11, a court found Djansug Bukiya, a resident of Sochi, guilty of discrediting the Russian Armed Forces and imposed a fine on him due to his status on a social media outlet in the form of the flag of Ukraine with an inscription in Italian.

Attack on “Caucasian Knot” correspondent in Elista

On September 8, in Elista, Badma Byurchiev, a “Caucasian Knot” correspondent, was attacked. Several people surrounded the journalist and started hitting him on the head, and when he fell, they hit him several more times and ran away. According to Badma Byurchiev, one of the attackers used obscene language and asked him: “Are you going to further (write or speak)?” So, the journalist associated the attack on him with his professional activities. The attack on Badma Byurchiev is directly related to his journalistic activities, activist Sanal Ubushiev and MP Arslan Kusminov emphasize. They pointed out that attacks on opponents and political opponents had already happened in Elista and that local officials had been involved in the incidents.

*The movement is included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in the register of unregistered public associations, performing the actions of a foreign agent.