Dagestan: Zarema Bagautdinova's case sent to court

The Prosecutor's Office has approved the indictment in the case of Zarema Bagautdinova, an activist of the Dagestani Regional Public Organization (DRPO) "Pravozaschita" (Advocacy), accused of promoting terror activities, a source from the Office has reported. The case was sent to court; the date of consideration has not been appointed yet.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Zarema Bagautdinova was detained in Buynaksk on July 4 based on testimonies of two earlier detained residents of Buynaksk. Guns and grenades were found in their homes, said a source from the GOVD (City Interior Division) of Buynaksk.

The decision of the court reads that Zarema Bagautdinova "maintained close kinship and friendship relations with active members of the 'Buynaksk Jamaat', was actively engaged in propaganda of the 'Salafi' trend of Islam, known as 'Wahhabism', and involved in recruiting individuals to join IAFs."

During the roundtable "Contours of the new policy in Dagestan: early successes and dangerous trends", which was held on July 16 at the Independent Press Centre in Moscow, Oleg Orlov, a member of the Board of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", called the arguments of the court, which made the decision to arrest Bagautdinova, ridiculous. According to his version, the real reason for her arrest was in the fact that since May this year Zarema was the sole provider of information about ongoing power agents' operations in Buynaksk.