Nalchik: people dissatisfied with verdict to Cherkesov block federal highway

On November 4, an action was held in the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria with a demand of a fair sentence to Aslan Cherkesov convicted of murdering the football fan Yegor Sviridov. About three hundred people blocked the Federal Highway Rostov-Baku at the exit from Nalchik at the Arch of Triumph in the "Strelka" District.

"We were approaching the exit from the city, when we saw a group of young people with posters that read: 'We demand a fair sentence to Aslan Cherkesov!'," said Ali, one of the protesters in Nalchik. "Like other drivers, who find themselves at that time in that place, got out and joined the participants."

The action in defence of Aslan Cherkesov was initiated by a small group of young people, who decided to block the federal highway with the aim to attract attention of the authorities to the fate of Aslan Cherkesov.

Subsequently, they were supported by drivers of buses, taxis and private cars, who stopped and got out of their vehicles to join the action.

"We were on our way to the marketplace aiming to buy things for our children, when we saw people standing on the highway with posters in support of Aslan," said his sister Anna Cherkesova. "Naturally, we got out and joined the group."

In their turn, Yegor Sviridov's relatives do not find the sentences passed to the defendants severe. Yegor Sviridov's widow Yana Falaleeva said on the day of sentencing that she would not appeal against them.