Journalists who wrote about Chechens' deportation and accused of extremism defend themselves

The Buryat journalists Tatiana Stetsura and Nadezhda Nizovkina, who had written about the deportation of Chechens and Ingushes and later were accused of extremism, rejected their appointed advocates and decided to self-defend at the trial, According to Nadir Fatov, a rights defender from Moscow, the case against the journalists is an experiment, in which the FSB refers any criticism of the authorities to Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (inciting hatred against a social group).

Pavel Lyuzakov, editor-in-chief of the "Svobodnoe Slovo" (Free Word) newspaper, who had placed the above journalists' articles in his edition, said that Buryatia had never seen such precedents.

"Indeed, the fact of deportation of Caucasian nations was officially condemned at the state level. But Buryatia is a deep province; therefore, when someone speaks here against deportation, or just against anything without the permit of the authorities, local security officers get immediately alerted and start persecuting these persons," Pavel Lyuzakov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Moreover, as he noted, the above journalists held plenty of different actions, became a sort of an eyesore to the authorities, and they decided to "restrict" them by means of the criminal case.

Mr Lyuzakov said that currently the litigation is on. Witnesses of the prosecution were already questioned; in the near future, the defence witnesses will be interrogated. The court has also summoned the experts who gave their opinion on the articles.

"The women rejected the advocates appointed by the court; they defend themselves by their own. They both have higher judicial education; I hope they'll be able to do it properly. This is a very indicative case, which has already attracted pretty much of the public attention," said Mr Lyuzakov.

Currently, he added, the female journalists have no incomes and suffer from financial hardships. "They aren't given any chances to work as journalists in Ulan-Ude; but they still hang in there," said the source.

"The ladies have a lot of trouble, since the case has many episodes. I am confused that their criminal case was prepared by the Investigatory Department of the FSB for the Republic of Buryatia. If the FSB starts dealing not with terrorists, but with the opposition, it's very dangerous," Nadir Fatov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The human rights activist believes that application of Article 282 in this case is unlawful. "The Constitution forbids kindling enmity social groups, that is, peasants, men or women. It turns out here that the authorities are a social group. You express dissatisfaction with the authorities - and here you are - an extremist. The UFSIN (Department of the Federal Penitentiary Service) in Stetsura-Nizovkina's case is presented as a social group. But what sort of social group are they? They are just particular persons," Nadir Fatov said.

In his opinion, the journalists are now facing a real threat of imprisonment for their articles.