Law enforcement officials visit hunger-strikers in Karaman

In Dagestan, representatives of the authorities have not yet met participants of the protest hunger strike in Karaman. Meanwhile, on November 12, protesters were visited by representatives of the Prosecutor's Office, the police and the FSB, who show interest in identifying the protesters. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Gamzat Khangishiev, a member of the Karaman community, the co-Chair of the Presidium of the Russian Congress of Peoples of the Caucasus (RCPC).

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in the morning of November 10, five residents of the Tarki villages declared a hunger strike demanding to restore the Tarki District and include in it the Karaman territory and the mountain of Tarki-Tau.

"Representatives of the police and the FSB show interest to identify persons involved in the hunger strike," Gamzat Khangishiev said. And he continued: "They recorded the information about the hunger-strikers: their surnames, first names, addresses and dates of birth. They also asked the protestors to show posters with demands. When I asked them what for they needed that, they explained that they wanted to check if the posters contained something illegal, like calls for the overthrow of the government and other illegal calls."

Gamzat Khangishiev has also commented on the statements made by members of the Lak National Council, who called on Tarki residents to abandon claims for to the Karaman territory and prevent interethnic conflict.

"I can explain why the authorities are trying to form some kind of third force in this conflict: to move from the position of a defendant to the position of a judge. It is a well-known technique," Gamzat Khangishiev has told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The co-Chairman of the RCPC Presidium has emphasized that no official statements or interview given by the Tarki activists "contain any hint to interethnic problems."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.