Dagestani MoJ considers rallies in support of Abdulmumin Gadjiev as a threat of unrest

The total number of refusals to sanction rallies in support of journalist Abdulmumin Gadjiev reached 209. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) of Dagestan claims that criticism of the law enforcement bodies voiced at a rally will provoke unrest, reports Armen Magomedov, a lawyer of the initiative group.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 20, the Supreme Court (SC) of Dagestan examined five appeals from the initiative group in support of Abdulmumin Gadjiev. The court recognized the MoJ's refusals to sanction the rallies as legal.

Supporters of the journalist got 209 refusals to sanction a protest rally in his support, advocate Arsen Magomedov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to him, the MoJ of Dagestan, which earlier mentioned various planned events while justifying its refusals to sanction rallies, decided to change the motivation for the refusals. "Earlier, the refusals used to be justified mainly by referring to the alleged engagement of the venues (marathons, festivals, etc.). Now, they refuse because of the presence of threats. They write that because of criticism of the law enforcement bodies, protesters may fall into a special psychological state and begin to break the law," said advocate Arsen Magomedov.

The activists say they will continue filing notifications to hold rallies.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 10, 2019 at 06:04 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.