AI: advocates are under daily danger in Northern Caucasus

The advocates who work in the regions of the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) are facing active opposition of power and investigating bodies; the justice is administered in the atmosphere of pressure; while the threats received by advocates are often carried out. This is stated in the report of the Amnesty International (AI) entitled "Face to face with injustice: threats and pressure on lawyers in Northern Caucasus", the full text of which has been published today by the "Caucasian Knot".

The AI has studied and documented numerous cases of human rights violations in Northern Caucasus, including facts of torture and other ill-treatment, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions.

According to the report, in particular, some of the lawyers were physically assaulted because of their professional activities. For example, in 2010 in Dagestan, the lawyer Sapiyat Magomedova was beaten by policemen, when she came to the OVD (Interior Division) to meet her client. After she addressed the authorities with an official complaint, a criminal case was filed against her.

Such violations are often characterized by the absence of adequate response from the Russian authorities. Often, Russian officials keep denying the fact of violation, even in cases when the AI and other organizations managed to collect documentary evidence, the report says.