During the annual "Year in Review" press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin, responding to a question about support for young families, noted the tradition of early marriages in the North Caucasus. He said he believed this was "right" and suggested "following their example," citing Ramzan Kadyrov's large family.
Prisoners in Taganrog Pretrial Detention Center No. 2 are being tortured, including Chechen native Magomed Alkhanov. The victims are being asked to confess to complicity in the escape from Rostov-on-Don Pretrial Detention Center No. 1 and to tell which of the prison employees helped organize the escape. This was reported by the Memorial Human Rights Center.
Earlier, all the prisoners claimed that they were not involved in the incident and did not even leave their cells on the day of the escape. But after being transferred to Taganrog, they confessed. In addition, Muslim prisoners are prohibited from praying and uttering any words related to Islam. In protest, many prisoners have injured themselves, human rights activists reported.
In early July, several prisoners, including Magomed Alkhanov, were suddenly transferred from Rostov-on-Don's SIZO-1, where an escape attempt and hostage-taking took place on June 16. Relatives and lawyers were told that the arrested men had been sent to Taganrog's SIZO-2, but they were unable to meet with them.
Magomed Alkhanov was first accused of attacking a company of Pskov paratroopers in February 2000 near the village of Ulus-Kert in the Vedensky District during the second Russian-Chechen war. The Memorial Center reported that the criminal case was fabricated. Then the man was charged with organizing an escape from Rostov's SIZO-1.