Journalist Marshenkulova treats accusations of justifying terrorism as unjustified

Zalina Marshenkulova, a journalist and activist from the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), who lives in Germany, has treated the accusations against her of justifying terrorism as absurd and linked her persecution with her political position.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that investigators had accused Zalina in absentia of placing posts justifying terrorism in the "Women's Power" Telegram channel. The criminal case initiated against her has nothing to do with her participation in defending women's rights in the KBR, human rights defenders have indicated.

Some sources claimed that the reason for Marchenkulova's prosecution was in her statements about the death of blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, who perished in an explosion in a café in Saint Petersburg on April 2, 2023. However, according to investigators, Marshenkulova has posted "a number of publications on justification of terrorism" on the Telegram "no later than March 3, 2023," that is, a month before Tatarsky's death.

Zalina Marshenkulova said that in Germany she has the status of a participant in a humanitarian programme. She has added that for the last five years she was receiving threats from unknown people (usually in social networks).

According to her story, her posts have no signs of justifying terrorism.

On April 11, law enforcers conducted a search in her former Moscow apartment.