Picket dispersed in Nalchik

On December 30, 2005, in Nalchik, at the entrance to the city's main mosque, a picket was held by relatives of persons held accountable on suspicion of participating in the attack on Nalchik on October 13, who, according to media reports, were subjected to forceful pressure and torture.

About 50 people - women, children and the elderly - put up posters near the fence of the mosque demanding that the Minister of Internal Affairs of Kabardino-Balkaria Khachim Shogenov, the prosecutor of the republic Yuri Ketov, as well as accusations against the mufti of Kabardino-Balkaria Anas Pshikhachev be held accountable.

The picket site was cordoned off by the police, who first seized the posters (it is reported that the deputy head of the public order department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kabardino-Balkaria, police lieutenant colonel Sergei Ivanchenko personally collected all the banners and packed them in the trunk of a car), and then dispersed the picket. Protesting women were dragged by the sleeves, demanding to get out of the rally, a REGNUM correspondent reports.

The event was dispersed despite the fact that one of the organizers of the picket, lawyer Larisa Dorogova, showed the police officers a copy of the picket notification sent to the Nalchik City Hall as evidence of the constitutionality of the action.

Sources

• In Nalchik, demonstrators wanted to burn effigies of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the mufti // IA REGNUM. 2005. December 30.