Activist Olga Begretova challenges court’s decision in her lawsuit against FSB

In Nalchik, a court which recognized the FSB’s refusal to provide the collected data as legal, did not take into account the facts proving that the check at the airport in Mineralnye Vody was carried out on behalf of the FSB. The above has been claimed by activist Olga Begretova in her appeal, the “Memorial” Centre for Human Rights Defence (CHRD)* reports.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on July 13, 2023, Olga Begretova complained about being subjected to coercion for obtaining her fingerprints at the airport. Investigators did not find any violations in the border guards’ actions. Olga Begretova sent a complaint to the military court in Pyatigorsk, but the court recognized the actions of the border guards as legal. After that, Olga Begretova requested the court to recognize as unlawful the refusal of the republic’s FSB to provide the information collected about her and that oblige the FSB to eliminate the violations. The Nalchik City Court referred to state secret and refused to grant the claim lodged by Olga Begretova.

In her complaint, Olga Begretova has noted that in accordance with the law, fingerprints must be given by people who are unable for health reasons to provide information about their identity, those suspected or accused of a crime, those arrested and those who have committed an offense, whose identity cannot be determined. Olga Begretova has claimed that she did not consent to the procedure of fingerprinting, and therefore it was carried out illegally.

*As reported on the website of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the reason for including on March 1, 2024, the unregistered “Memorial” Centre for Human Rights Defence (CHRD) into the register of foreign agents was the spread of “inaccurate information aimed at creating a negative image of the Russian Federation, as well as the Russian Armed Forces.”