"Khabze" activists demand to release Kochesoko

In their statement posted in social networks, members of the NGO "Khabze" have expressed their outrage at the charges brought against their leader, Martin Kochesoko, and demanded his release.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Martin Kochesoko, the head of the Circassian NGO "Khabze", was detained in Nalchik on June 7 on suspicion of drug storage.

On June 15, the press service of the NGO released a statement in connection with Kochesoko's arrest.

"The very circumstances of Martin Kochesoko's arrest, as well as the events preceding it, evidence the prepared and pre-planned action aimed at discrediting the public leader in order to remove him from the public-political space," the "Khabze" said in the statement posted in social networks Instagram and Facebook.

"We are confident that provocations against Ivan Golunov and Martin Kochesoko stand in one row and are crimes committed by law enforcers against the persons, who are law-abiding, but disliked by certain influential figures," says the statement.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 16, 2019 at 06:15 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.