In Dagestan, "Chernovik" journalists refuse to sign the indictment that was brought to the court

Yesterday, on April 7, journalists of the "Chernovik" (Blueprint) newspaper, including its editor-in-chief, accused of kindling hatred or enmity, or humiliation of human dignity, were acquainted with the indictment, which they refused to sign. Meanwhile, back on April 5, Public Prosecutor of Dagestan Yuri Tkachov approved the indictment under Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and sent the case to the court.

According to journalist Magomed Magomedov, the accused journalists were acquainted with the indictment "by backdating", with violation of the remedial legislation.

"Yesterday, on April 7, we were summoned to inspector Maxim Mirzabalaev. All five of us were summoned: Timur Mustafaev, Biyakai Magomedov, Arthur Mamayev, Nadira Isaeva and me. However, Biyakai was absent because of sickness. We were invited to get acquaint with the indictment compiled by the prosecutor's office and sign it to confirm the fact," said the journalist.

"Our request to wait for our advocate and sign the document in his presence was rejected by Mirzabalaev, inspector for especially important cases of the Investigatory Division of the ICPO for Dagestan, under a pretext that it was out intention to protract the remedial actions," Mr Magomedov has noted.

According to the journalist, on Monday, April 6, the materials of the case were sent to the court. "And on Tuesday, we were just acquainted with the procedure. It turns out, that everything had been decided 'by backdating', without us, and Biyakai was not acquainted with the case at all," Magomed Magomedov said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The fact that the public prosecutor signed the indictment on April 5 became known to journalists just by occasion - today, their advocate received a letter from the prosecutor's office to this end. Mr Magomedov notes that all the letters with notifications arrive from the prosecutor's office with great delays.

"For example, we received a letter saying that we had time till March 30 to challenge any points of the indictment. But we received the letter yesterday, on April 7. The envelope has a stamp that the letter was brought to the post-office from the investigatory division only on April 1. Thus, we were deprived of any right to appeal against any remedial actions," said the journalist.

Besides, according to Magomedov, the journalists doubt the legitimacy of approval of the indictment by the Public Prosecutor of the Republic Dagestan, as he figures as a respondent in one of the civil cases initiated by the "Chernovik".

Meanwhile, according to the data received from the Prosecutor's Office of Makhachkala, in the end of almost 8-month investigation the accused journalists were acquainted with the materials of the criminal case in the presence of their advocate in the period from March 12 to March 23 under the acquaintance schedule. On March 23, the acquaintance was over.

In the opinion of prosecutors, there were no violations on their part, since the acquaintance is not an investigatory action; the defendants are just served and sign the indictment; no advocate is required for the purpose.