Norwegian Helsinki Committee and OBS demand to cancel Zhalaudi Geriev's sentence

The Norwegian Helsinki Committee and the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (OBS) have condemned the verdict pronounced against Zhalaudi Geriev, a correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot". The human rights defenders have called on the Russian authorities to release the journalist.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 5, the Shali District Court of Chechnya sentenced Zhalaudi Geriev to three years of imprisonment on the charge of drug possession. Zhalaudi Geriev was supported by the human rights organization "Human Rights Watch" (HRW), which recognized him a "victim of his professional activities."

The Norwegian Helsinki Committee and the OBS (a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights and the World Organization Against Torture) have demanded from the Russian authorities to immediately release Zhalaudi Geriev, cancel the verdict and secure the investigations into the complaints of kidnappings and torture filed by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, as well as identify and punish the guilty persons.

The human rights defenders also demand to take immediate measures to secure the safety of journalists in Northern Caucasus.

The authors of the appeal have called on the international community to closely monitor the situation of oppression journalists and human rights defenders in Chechnya and Northern Caucasus and seek an investigation into each of such cases.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.