Human rights defenders ask Dagestani MIA to explain continuation of police prevention registration

Daniyal Alkhasov, a native of Dagestan, and Vazir Bazanaev, a resident of the republic, claimed violations of their rights in connection with their inclusion in the police prevention registration list. The Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" sent a request to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Dagestan, since in 2017, law enforcers announced the cancellation of the practice of police prevention registration.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in Dagestan, people were put on the police prevention registration list for wearing a beard or going to a mosque.

According to physician Daniyal Alkhasov, he learned from the police that he had been included in the police prevention registration list under the category of "religious extremist."

The human rights defenders also reported on renewed pressure on Vazir Bazanaev, a resident of the Chinar village in the Derbent District. Law enforcers put him on the police prevention registration list in 2013, since he was attending a mosque in Derbent. According to the police, several parishioners of that mosque left for Syria.

"The life of a person whose name was put on the police prevention registration list became dramatically complicated: he was regularly summoned to police stations, fingerprinted, subjected to taking of DNA samples, and, in addition, he faced difficulties with employment. Meanwhile, the vast majority of those put on the police prevention registration list were never accused of committing crimes," said Oleg Orlov, the head of the "Hot Spots" programme.

The human rights defender also added that people were often put on the police prevention registration list because of denunciations.