Altai activist reported that investigators are trying to force a confession on her

Arzhana Rykova, a civil activist from the Republic of Altai, said that investigators are trying to force her to confess to participation in the activities of the banned religious association Ak Tyan. This is reported by Siberia. Realities".

According to Rykova, investigators came to her house several times, including accompanied by special forces. She refused to testify, citing Article 51 of the Constitution.

“They behaved aggressively, pinched my leg with the door. And when I began to film the actions of the employees on the phone, one of them, by the name of Sukonkin (he had previously shown a certificate - "Siberia. Realities" ), tried to snatch the phone from me, hit me in the face. I took a medical opinion on my injuries, ”the activist quoted the publication as saying.

Then the investigators brought Rykova's husband, Karu Tranov, to Gorno-Altaisk, where they also tried to get him to confess his participation in the activities of Ak tyan. Arzhana Rykova appealed to the police with a complaint about the actions of the investigators.

Rykova also spoke about the situation to Yevgeny Sokolov, a former deputy of the local district council. In his opinion, the security forces thus put pressure on the family of activists. “Rykova and Tranov themselves do not recognize themselves as extremists, there is no evidence against it, and it cannot be ruled out that pressure on them will continue,” Sokolov said.

Correspondent "Siberia. Realii” it was not possible to get a comment from the Investigative Committee on the actions of the employees of the department.

• The activities of the Ak tyan association, officially registered as the Karakol Initiative Group, were recognized as extremist and banned in 2018, reported Novosti Gorny Altai . In February 2019, the Ministry of Justice added the association to the list of extremist ones.
• In May 2019, Arzhana Rykova was fined for posting on VKontakte about the oppression of the Altai people. The Investigative Committee saw “inciting hatred on ethnic grounds in the free translation of posts into Russian” and opened a criminal case, but after the partial decriminalization of Article 282 of the Criminal Code, the case was dismissed and a protocol on an administrative offense was drawn up against Rykova (Article 20.3.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses).