A Balkar activist was fined for inciting hatred against Circassians

A court in Nalchik fined Balkar activist Khadis Tetuev 10,000 rubles, ruling that his publications about Circassians constituted incitement to hatred and enmity based on ethnicity. 

The Nalchik City Court heard Khadis Tetuyev's administrative case. The activist was charged with inciting hatred and enmity1.

The Kabardino-Balkaria Human Rights Center reported the results of Tetuyev's case today on its Telegram channel. The court sentenced the Balkar activist to the minimum penalty under this administrative statute—a fine of 10,000 rubles. 

According to the Nalchik City Court's records, Tetuyev's case was heard on September 24, and the activist appealed the decision on October 9. The text of the ruling was published on the court's website today. 

Experts found negative assessments and statements about the "Circassians" national group in Tetuyev's online publications, titled "Flag of Extremism" and "Pan-Circassianism and the Struggle for the Collapse of Russia," according to the document.

Tetuyev published these materials under his own name on the portal "Proza.ru" in April and May 2025; these publications currently cannot be accessed via direct links, as they have been "removed by the author." Other publications by Tetuyev, with links to the deleted articles, indicate that they concerned marches held by Circassian activists in Kabardino-Balkaria to mark Circassian Flag Day ( April 25 ) and the anniversary of the end of the Caucasian War ( May 21 ). Following the funeral march in May, at least eight activists were detained , and the court sentenced them to administrative arrest . 

Tetuyev disputed these findings in court, arguing that the experts "lacked specialized knowledge." The court, however, found him guilty, noting that the examinations were conducted by "specialists in the field under investigation" and that their conclusions "were objective, reasoned, and substantiated," according to the ruling. 

The " Caucasian Knot " also reported that in 2019, a court ordered Khadis Tetuyev to pay 50,000 rubles to publisher and local historian Viktor Kotlyarov for an offensive publication about the latter's book. As the expert established, in a post about the book "The Battle of Kanzhal: A View Through the Centuries," Tetuyev accused Kotlyarov, as its author, of "contributing to the creation of a conflict situation in Kabardino-Balkaria." Tetuyev himself, Khadis Tetuyev, is an economist and the author of the cultural project "One Hundred Steps to Kaisyn." Before focusing on historical and cultural issues, he worked for over 20 years in the tax service. 

Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/416211