Court leaves three participants of Vladikavkaz rally in custody

The Supreme Court (SC) of North Ossetia has rejected the complaints against the administrative arrest of Batraz Gagiev, Kazbek Kasaev and Khetag Vataev, who participated in a spontaneous rally in Vladikavkaz. Batraz Gagiev remains in hospital, where he was taken from the detention centre at activists' insistence.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 20, law enforcers dispersed opponents of the self-isolation regime, who demanded resignation of the government, parliament, and the head of North Ossetia, from Freedom Square in Vladikavkaz. The detained protesters were administratively arrested and fined.

On April 30, the North-Ossetian SC denied the appeal against the arrest of Batraz Gagiev and upheld the decision of the first-instance court, Batraz Gagiev's advocate, Kamilla Dzotsieva, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Sergey Denisenko, a lawyer for the "Agora" human rights organization, has joined the defence of the participants in the spontaneous action in Vladikavkaz.

According to Mr Denisenko, on April 30, the appeals of two more participants of the rally, Kazbek Kasaev and Khetag Vataev, were also considered and were denied.

Sergey Denisenko has noted that the defence intends to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR); and his clients have already given their consent to this.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 30, 2020 at 08:13 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.