October 14, Moscow to hold rally in defence of journalists Nizovkina and Stetsura

On October 14, at 5:30 p.m., in Chistoprudny Boulevard, near the monument to Griboyedov, a rally is planned in defence of journalists Nadezhda Nizovkina and Tatiana Stetsura, accused of extremism for distributing human rights leaflets about the Caucasus. The rally is organized by the Anti-War Movement.

Earlier, the "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the above Buryat journalists from the newspaper "Svobodnoye Delo" (Free Business), accused in kindling hatred against power agencies of Russia for their writings about deportation of Caucasian nations in 1944, had filed a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by journalist Elena Maglevannaya, who now lives in Finland, that she personally knew Nizovkina and Stetsura and is monitoring the course of their criminal case. According to her story, the upcoming rally in Moscow is a protest against prosecution, in the city of Ulan-Ude, of the journalists accused of extremism.

At the moment, the journalists' case is considered by the Sovietskiy Court of Ulan-Ude.

According to the source, the journalists' guilt is that they called February 23 the day of mourning because of the deportation of Caucasian nations undertaken on that very day in 1944. "The prosecution believes that the leaflets allegedly provoked hatred to the FSB (Russia's Federal Security Bureau), army, militia and FSIN (Russia's Federal Corrective Service). The case was initiated by the Investigatory Department of the FSB in the Republic of Buryatia. The ladies are under threat of up to 2 years of imprisonment under Article 282 of the Criminal Code - "Incitement of hatred or enmity against a social group."

Ms Maglevannaya believes that the main reason for persecuting the two opposition activists is in the intolerance of power agencies to any independent opinion that "is divergent from the party line - as amended for the present from the line of the 'Edinaya Rossiya' (United Russia) Party." The journalist has noted that the case of Nizovkina and Stetsura is in one row with the cases of the Internet blogger Savva Terentiev, Eugenia Savelieva and other persons, critical towards power structures.

"This is a trial and a check of public reaction, in particular. If, as always, dull silence will follow, then, very soon, like in 'good old days', people will be imprisoned even for political anecdotes," said the journalist.