Previously convicted Circassian activist recognized as a "foreign agent"

The Russian Ministry of Justice has included in the list of "foreign agents" Circassian activist, leader of the organization "Khabze" Martin Kochesokov, who now lives in Turkey.

According to the department, Kochesokov "took part in the dissemination of messages and materials of foreign agents, made calls for actions, the results of which could lead to a violation of the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation."

In 2021, Martin Kochesokov was given a three-year suspended prison sentence for drug possession. He was detained on June 7, 2019 in the KBR on the Kavkaz highway. According to investigators, marijuana was found in his car. The activist himself insisted on his innocence, claiming that the security forces planted the drugs on him. He spent several months in jail and under house arrest.

The persecution of Kochesokov was connected with his public position, calls for the study of the national languages of the peoples living in the Russian Federation, as well as the need for popular elections of heads of regions instead of appointing them from Moscow.