KBR journalists ask Prosecutor to take Tsagoev's case under personal control

The journalist community of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) appealed to Oleg Zharikov, Republic's Prosecutor, with a request to take under his control the investigation into the case against journalist Igor Tsagoev.

The written appeal to the Prosecutor mentions that the journalist community of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR) is shocked by the information published on the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) that states Igor Tsagoev is suspected of robbery.

"With an item, looking like a pistol, the suspect got into one of the apartments located in Kalmykov Street (in Nalchik, note of the "Caucasian Knot"), where, threatening with firearm and using violence dangerous to life and health against the hostess of the apartment (infliction of eight strikes to the head with iron pistol grip was accompanied by an attempt of strangling), he openly stole cash in the amount of 1950 US dollars," the MIA's message states.

A criminal case was instituted under Article 162 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (robbery).

"On May 8, 2013, at about 05:00 p.m., staff members of operational services of the Kabardino-Balkarian MIA detained journalist Igor Tsagoev, whom we know only as a decent man, a talented and principled journalist, awarded numerous honours and rewards, including numerous honours of the Russian MIA, FSB Department and other law enforcement bodies, and a person for whom the law and justice are the highest values," the journalists' appeal emphasizes.

The authors of the letter draw attention of the Republic's Prosecutor to "a gross violation of the detainee's constitutional rights committed by the Kabardino-Balkarian MIA's press service."

"Based on the text of the press release, one can conclude that the crime has just been committed, and Igor Tsagoev is named to be a former journalist, although he is an acting journalist, a correspondent of the newspaper 'Moskovsky Komsomolets' in Nalchik. That was also done intentionally to show that he allegedly had a motive for the crime. Meanwhile, Igor Tsagoev is detained only on suspicion of committing the crime that took place 13 years ago," the appeal stresses.

Journalists ask the Republic's Prosecutor to take under special control the investigation into the crime and to give a legal assessment of the information disseminated by the Kabardino-Balkarian MIA's press service. A copy of the appeal was directed to Sergey Vasiliev, Minister of Internal Affairs, and to Boris Zumakulov, Ombudsman of the KBR.

During the search of the Igor Tsagoev's house, law enforcers seized a toy pistol that they called "a pistol of unidentified model". This was reported by Sima Tsagoeva, 73-year-old mother of the detainee, in her interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "And they also took away four signal flare pistols, which Igor brought prior to the New Year holiday from his visit to a military unit and said that the guys presented the signal flare pistols to him to activate them on the New Year's Eve; however, then we forgot about them."

At present, Igor Tsagoev is kept at the SIZO (pre-trial prison) of Nalchik, and the pre-trial restriction measure against him was chosen in the form of detention in custody for a period of two months.

Advocate Nikolai Karachaev, who represent interests of Igor Tsagoev, intends to challenge the arrest of his client.

Igor Tsagoev is well known for his journalist investigations, and he wrote about corruption, territorial disputes, and ethnic conflicts.