Human rights activists have called for the case against the Circassian activist to be dropped.

About 30 human rights defenders and activists from Adygea, Kabardino-Balkaria, Karachay-Cherkessia, and the Krasnodar Territory have demanded that the criminal prosecution of Larisa Tuptsokova be dropped due to the lack of evidence of a crime.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," journalist and Circassian activist Larisa Tuptsokova, who lives in Georgia, learned at the end of September that a criminal case had been opened against her in Russia for extremism. About a month earlier, a fake website for the Circassian Cultural Center in Tbilisi, recognized as extremist, appeared online, where publications were posted in Larisa Tuptsokova's name. In October, the journalist reported that security forces had searched her parents' home in Adygea and interrogated her relatives.

The Kabardino-Balkaria Human Rights Center published an appeal from human rights activists, academics, and public figures to Adygea's head, Marat Kumpilov, in connection with the case against journalist Larisa Tuptsokova. Along with the center's head, Valery Khatazhukov, the letter was signed by 28 people from Maykop, Nalchik, Cherkessk, Krasnodar, Sochi, and Tuapse—Circassian activists, as well as academics and artists.

The criminal case against Larisa Tuptsokova must be closed, as she ceased collaborating with the Circassian Cultural Center in Tbilisi long before the organization of the same name was designated extremist. As the authors of the letter note, Tuptsokova worked for a budgetary organization under the Georgian Ministry of Culture—the Circassian Cultural Center in Tbilisi—until the fall of 2023, while the “foreign non-governmental non-profit organization” with the same name was added to the Russian Ministry of Justice’s register of extremist organizations only in June 2024.

Larisa Tuptsokova’s main activity at the Circassian Cultural Center in Tbilisi was literary translations of Georgian poets into Circassian. She also compiled and edited publications on the study of the Circassian language.

“Tuptsokova’s scientific and public work has become widely known both in the North Caucasus and among the Caucasian diaspora worldwide, and the crime with which she is accused cannot in any way be connected to her activities,” the appeal on the website of the Kabardino-Balkaria Human Rights Center states.

The authors of the appeal suggested that the investigation, despite all the arguments about the groundlessness of Tuptsokova's prosecution, "intends to bring the case to court by any means necessary."

The addressees of the letter, in addition to Kumpilov, included Federation Council senators and State Duma deputies representing Adygea, the head of the republic's government, and the regional human rights ombudsman. The activists called on the head of Adygea to take measures to end the criminal prosecution of the journalist, and on the other addressees to assist in protecting the rights of Larisa Tuptsokova and her family.

"I thank the Circassian community and human rights activists for their support. This means a lot to me," Larisa Tuptsokova wrote on her social media page, commenting on the appeal.