Kabardino-Balkaria: detained picketers sent from OVD to court

The persons detained today at an attempt to hold a picket in the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria were illegally kept at the OVD (Interior Unit) No. 1 of Nalchik, where a protocol on administrative offence was drawn up; then, they were transported to the court. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent learnt about it from Elena Bairamkulova, an advocate and a colleague of Magomed Abubakarov, who is defending the interests of those accused under the case about the 2005 events in Nalchik.

The picket of the relatives of the figurants of the case on the events on October 13, 2005, rallied at the building of the parliament of Kabardino-Balkaria at 11 in the morning.

"What we had there cannot even be treated as a picket or a rally. They only went out and took out their posters; but they were immediately attacked, their arms were twisted out, they were pushed into a car and brought to the OVD. Together with Magomed Abubakarov, three women-relatives of the defendants were also detained - they wanted to draw attention to the defendants' custody conditions at the isolation facility," Ms Bairamkulova said.

According to her story, the militia had no right to keep the detainees at the OVD, as, according to the Code on Administrative Offences, the violations of the incriminated article entail a fine, not detention in any building of law enforcement bodies.