Rights defenders announce Abubakar Rizvanov and Kemal Tambiev as political prisoners

The case against Abdulmumin Gadjiev, Abubakar Rizvanov and Kemal Tambiev is politically motivated, human rights defenders have stated. They recognized Rizvanov and Tambiev as political prisoners, demanding that the criminal prosecution of those convicted on charges of financing terrorism be stopped and that they be released, as well as an inquiry into the torture of Kemal Tambiev.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Rizvan Zubairov, one of the three judges who passed sentence in the case of Abdulmumin Gadjiev, a journalist of the "Chernovik" outlet, Abubakar Rizvanov, the head of the "Ansar" Fund, and Kemal Tambiev, an entrepreneur, in his dissenting opinion criticized the grounds for the guilty verdict and in fact acquitted Gadjiev. Gadjiev's relatives expressed hope that the appellate court would take into account Judge Zubairov's dissenting opinion.

The independent human rights project "Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial" has announced Rizvanov and Tambiev to be political prisoners. The project has noted that in his dissenting opinion, Judge Zubairov indicated that investigators had failed to provide reliable proofs of the guilt of the figurants – Gadjiev, Tambiev and Rizvanov; and facts contradicted investigators' conclusions.

"State propaganda is making use and aggravating the everyday Islamophobia, is merging Islam and terrorism in average persons' minds," human rights defenders have pointed out, emphasizing that Georgy Guev, also declared as a political prisoner, had been earlier convicted "for allegedly raising funds for the Abu Umar Sasitlinsky Fund."