The founder of NCO-TV temporarily left Russia after the arrest of the leading channel

The human rights activist and founder of NKO-TV Temur Kobalia temporarily left Russia after the arrest of the channel officer Alexander Batmanov. As Kobalia said in a commentary on Radio Liberty, he went to Georgia, because he fears possible provocations. “To reduce the risks, I decided to leave all the same. If the police wanted a normal dialogue, they would call me, they called me normally. I never hide,” said Kobalia. He noted that on July 18, the Georgian-Russian forum, the head of which is a human rights activist in Tbilisi.

The host of NCO-TV Alexander Batmanov was detained last week in Volgograd. The police said that the journalist allegedly stole sausages and bread from the store. For two days, Batmanov was closed in one of the offices in the police department - without food and water. The journalist tried to escape, but fell from the height of the third floor and broke his legs. Currently, despite the fact that the police, according to Kobalia, have no evidence of the journalist’s guilt, the Batmanov is in the investigative insulator. In a commentary for Radio Liberty, the founder of NCO-TV called the case regarding his associate "nonsense". The human rights activist noted that before the arrest of Batmanov was investigating the construction of the Volgograd-Arena stadium and studying the distribution of presidential and local grants. For legal and material assistance for Batmanov, Kobalia turned to several international human rights organizations.

On Temur Cobalia, law enforcement officers also previously exerted pressure. In particular, in November last year, when the human rights activist was abroad, the police tried to get into his apartment. Later, the police explained their actions "verification of documents." In addition, unknown people were wrapped in the NKO-TV office in Volgograd. In 2013, the Kobalia Youth Center for Consultation and Training was included in the Register of Foreign Agents. The Ministry of Justice of Russia made such a decision after the participation of NPOs in the Georgian-Russian forum, which is headed by the human rights activist.

NKO-TV was founded in 2015. The channel carries out its activities for private donations. One of his main tasks "NCO-TV" calls "the popularization of the activities of non-profit organizations and civil associations, the active part of citizens and youth." “NPO TV” strives to ensure that the communications between NPOs, the media, and authorities are constructive and lead to an agreement and mutual understanding that are necessary for a joint solution to social problems, ” the website of the Internet channel says.