In Dagestan’s Makhachkala, law enforcement agents have allegedly beaten detained participants of protests against mobilisation accused of having used violence against government representatives, reports local outlet Kavkaz.Realii, citing lawyer Nadezhda Borodkina who represents four of the defendants.
“After being transferred to district [police departments], they were beaten by police agents. All of them have visible injuries, bruises, one of the defendants complains of intense chest pain — suspected rib fractures. The results of the medical examination haven’t come in yet,” Borodkina said.
After the protests against mobilisation that had occurred in Dagestan, over 20 criminal cases on using violence against government representatives were initiated, the accused could face up to ten years of imprisonment, the lawyer added. Moreover, restrictive measures that do not have to do with deprivation of liberty have been elected for only two of the defendants, the rest remain in pre-trial detention centres.
Borodkina also said that the proof of wrongdoing in these criminal cases are videos and testimonies of the law enforcement agents themselves. The defendants claim to not have attacked law enforcement agents and to have instead protected the women that the policemen had been beating during the detention, the lawyer clarified.
On 28 September, independent Russian human rights project OVD-Info reported that the Makhachkala Investigative Committee had initiated around 30 criminal cases connected to the protests against mobilisation, adding that several people had already been placed in a pre-trial detention centre.
On 25 and 26 September, protests against mobilisation took place in Dagestan’s Makhachkala. There were detentions and clashes with the police, shots being fired were heard, protesters were trying to fight off the people being detained by the police. Protests also took place in the city of Khasavyurt.
