HRC "Memorial" declares Zarema Bagavutdinova a political prisoner

The imprisonment in Dagestan of Zarema Bagavutdinova (or Bagautdinova, by other sources), a member of the Dagestani Regional Public Organization (DRPO) Pravozaschita" (Advocacy), accused of promoting terrorist activity, was applied to her exclusively because of her non-violent public activities, said the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" and decided to recognize the woman as a political prisoner.

Let us remind you that on November 20 Zarema Bagavutdinova's case was sent for trial to the Buynaksk City Court. At a preliminary session on December 18, the court decided to extend her arrest by two more months and decided that the trial will be held behind closed doors.

"We believe that Zarema's imprisonment was based on falsification of the evidence of the imputed offense," emphasized the statement posted on the website of the HRC "Memorial".

Let us note here that Bagavutdinova herself has expressed the opinion that her arrest had to do with her human rights activities. This opinion was supported by Oleg Orlov, a member of the Board of the HRC "Memorial" and head of the programme "Hot Spots", who said that the real reason for Bagavutdinova's arrest was in the fact that since May this year she was the sole provider of information about the actions undertaken by power agents in Buynaksk.