Lawyers of the Memorial Center sent an appeal to the UN to Mariana Katsarova, rapporteur on the human rights situation in Russia, regarding the case of journalist from Dagestan Abdulmumin Gadzhiev. The message states that Hajiyev is being persecuted for his professional activities and religious views.

The authors of the appeal ask that experts be invited to consider it, including the special rapporteur on minority issues, since Gadzhiev is being persecuted as a representative of the Dagestan (North Caucasian) minority and is being discriminated against as a Muslim.

Let us recall that in September the Rostov District Military Court found journalist Abdulmumin Gadzhiev guilty and sentenced him to 17 years in prison. The editor of the “Religion” section of the Chernovik publication was tried under articles on “participation in the activities of terrorist organizations” and “financing terrorism.” According to investigators, the journalist published materials about the Ansar charity foundation and did not mention that part of the money collected was sent to the Islamic State, an organization banned in the Russian Federation.

The examinations did not find any signs of justification for terrorism in Hajiyev’s articles. In addition, prosecution witnesses spoke in favor of the defendants.

Earlier, the Memorial Human Rights Center recognized Abdulmumin Gadzhiev as a political prisoner. Human rights activists have repeatedly stated that the criminal case was falsified.