Temur Kobaliya reports on policemen's visit to his apartment

Temur Kobaliya, the head of the Human Rights Council of Volgograd, has reported about the visit of officials of the criminal investigation department to his apartment in the Krasnooktbyarsky District.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that following the results of the inspection carried out in December 2014, the "Youth Centre for Consulting and Training", founder by Temur Kobaliya, was recognized as a "foreign agent." On June 10, 2015, in Volgograd, activists held pickets in support of the Temur Kobaliya's Centre, and in July, the NGO was excluded from the "foreign agents" register. On October 26, 2015, Temur Kobaliya received a letter with a notification that the court fined his NGO 300,000 roubles and himself 100,000 roubles. The fine was caused by the fact that Temur Kobaliya wrote a message in a social network, in which he failed to indicate the NGO's status as a "foreign agent." In June, Temur Kobaliya filed a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) about the case of the fine imposed by the Volgograd court on him and the Autonomous NGO "Youth Centre for Consulting and Training".

"I am now in Europe. In the morning of November 3, my neighbours from Volgograd informed me that officials of the criminal investigation department came to my apartment. At 5:00 a.m., they usually come to detain a person or to conduct searches. Here, I have consulted my colleagues and advocates. They do not advise me to return to Russia now. I have decided to cancel my return to Russia. We would like to find out the reason why officials of the criminal investigation department wanted to visit me in the morning," Temur Kobaliya told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

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