Reporter Abdulmumin Gadzhiev held for past five years in Russian Caucasus now a whistleblower from his cell
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for the release of a reporter held in the Republic of Dagestan, in the Russian Caucasus, ever since his arrest exactly five years ago. Sentenced to 17 years in prison on a trumped-up terrorism charge last September, he is now a whistleblower about the use of torture by the security forces.
Detained arbitrarily since 14 June 2019, Dagestani journalist Abdulmumin Gadzhiev has not stopped being a reporter. He writes his stories by hand in his cell and gives them his lawyer to pass on to his media outlet, the Dagestani online newspaper Chernovik, which has published more than 350 by-lined stories by him, many of them about the systematic use torture by the security forces in Dagestan.
Some of his reporting was about the violent interrogation of Mirzaliyev Mirzali, a fellow detainee also accused of terrorism. This angered the Federal Security Service (FSB) to the point that it used all of its influence to ensure that a court kept extending Gadzhiev’s pre-trial detention. It continued for more than four years, until he was finally given a 17-year sentence on 12 September 2023 despite the lack of any hard evidence.
On 20 May, his lawyers filed the appeal to which he has a right, but he continues to be detained without being told when his appeal will be heard.
“Abdulmumin Gadzhiev’s conviction is not based on any hard evidence. In Russia, and especially in Dagestan, Islamist ‘breeding grounds’ are exploited to fabricate 'terrorism' charges designed to silence journalists and activists. RSF calls for the release of Gadzhiev, who is a victim of arbitrary detention like 38 other journalists today in Russia.
Gadzhiev’s former colleagues, such as Chernovik deputy editor Magomed Magomedov, are harassed for campaigning for his release. The police often interrupt his solitary protests with a sign – the only form of demonstration allowed in Russia. Magomedov was even arrested last January, although passers-by were expressing support.
In April, police searched the home of Idris Yusupov, a journalist with the local social and political newspaper Novoe Delo who also stages solitary protests in support of Gadzhiev. As well as confiscating material during the search, the police ordered him to report to the police station, where he was questioned by members of the Centre for Combatting Extremism.
Chernovik was forced to stop producing a print edition in November 2022, because of threats and intense pressure by the authorities on printing houses to refuse any orders from the newspaper.
Gadzhiev, who ran Chernovik’s religious affairs section until his arrest, was convicted of “funding” and “participating in a terrorist organisation” on the sole basis of a statement extracted under torture and a score of newspaper articles. The justice ministry admitted in January 2023 that investigators were unable to find any evidence of a criminal transfer of money by Gadzhiev.
