Tatar activist Guzel Kasimova has been detained on charges of making a false report of a terrorist attack. Her arrest came immediately after she spent 10 days in a special detention centre on charges of disobeying the lawful demands of a police officer.
Kasimova was re-arrested Monday evening in Cherkessk, the capital city of Karachay–Cherkessia, her lawyer Yulia Glukhova reported, according to a video message published by the Telegram channel Razoblacheno.
Kasimova was previously detained in Cherkessk on 21 November during a meeting with another activist, after which her location was unknown until the following day.
Despite the fact an employee of the Center for Countering Extremism said during the trial on 23 November that Kasimova showed him her documents willingly and voluntarily got into his car, the court found her guilty of disobeying the lawful demands of a law enforcement officer.
On Monday, Kasimova was charged with knowingly filing a false report of a terrorist attack based on a leaflet she shared. Her lawyer did not provide any further details about what information the leaflet contained.
According to Glukhova, the ruling on the initiation of criminal proceedings was issued as early as 22 November — the day after Kasimova’s initial arrest — but the case still lacks an expert examination, which would confirm the conclusions of the investigation about the illegal content of the leaflets.
Glukhova said that she was going to meet Kasimova at the exit of the special detention centre, from which she was to be released at 22:45 on Monday, but that when she arrived there, she saw many police cars. Glukhova emphasised that she had repeatedly called the investigator before going to the detention centre, but he did not provide any warning about the upcoming detention of the activist, from which she concluded that the authorities wanted to carry out investigative actions without the participation of a lawyer.
Glukhova also highlighted that Kasimova’s chronic neurological disease has worsened while in detention, noting that between arrests, an ambulance has been called to the special detention centre.
Kasimova asked to postpone the interrogation until Tuesday morning, but was refused.
Stalina Erlenbach, an activist from Stavropol Krai who came to Karachay–Cherkessia to help find Kasimova following her arrest on 21 November, was charged on 22 November in the same criminal case of distributing leaflets. On 24 November, Erlenbach was remanded to two months of pre-trial detention.
Kasimova has been openly criticising the authorities in southern Russia since the spring of this year. She was a regular visitor to Karachay–Cherkessia, and fought against illegal construction in protected areas. In particular, she accused Krasnodar Governor Andrei Tkachev’s company of buying the Karachay–Cherkessian resort Arkhyz for ₽ 24 billion ($230 million).
