Nikolai Zakharchenko with his wife. Screenshot of the video https://www.ntv.ru/novosti/2399380/

24 March 2023, 18:15

Widow of pensioner from KBR treats compensation awarded by court as fair

The widow of Nikolai Zakharchenko, a pensioner who committed suicide after being accused of growing hemp, is satisfied with the court's decision to compensate for her moral harm suffered from her husband's unjustified criminal prosecution and death; but she finds it more important to bring their neighbour to criminal liability for false denunciation.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 18, 2020, Nikolai Zakharchenko, an 85-year-old resident of Nartkala (the capital of the Urvan District of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR)) committed suicide. A few days earlier, law enforcers conducted a search in his house, during which they seized the remains of a cannabis bush. A drug possession case was opened. The widow regarded law enforcers as a trigger for her husband's suicide. The court appointed her a million roubles as compensation for moral harm.

According to the local Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), the pensioner, "having dried the leaves, kept them for personal consumption without the purpose of sale." After Zakharchenko's death, the investigator closed the case, explaining this by the insignificance of the offense. The widow said that her husband was afraid to die in prison.

The widow said that she was 85 years old and had undergone a number of major surgeries. In her opinion, the family suffered because of a denunciation by a neighbour who wrote to the police that Zakharchenko was growing hemp in the garden for pain relief and sale.

"I have never anesthetized myself with anything, because I don't need it. I live more than 20 years after cancer. My husband never even smoked cigarettes, he only drank on holidays ... The cannabis bush grew by itself; we didn't even know what it was. And when we found out, we tore it out and wanted to feed it to rabbits," the widow has explained.

According to her story, law enforcers offered her husband to confess that he grew marijuana only for personal use, promising then a "short term", and threatened that otherwise he would receive 12 years in prison.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 23, 2023 at 06:40 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Lyudmila Maratova Source: СK correspondent

All news
НАСТОЯЩИЙ МАТЕРИАЛ (ИНФОРМАЦИЯ) ПРОИЗВЕДЕН И РАСПРОСТРАНЕН ИНОСТРАННЫМ АГЕНТОМ ООО “МЕМО”, ЛИБО КАСАЕТСЯ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ ИНОСТРАННОГО АГЕНТА ООО “МЕМО”.

March 28, 2024 22:19

  • Court extends arrest of blogger Alyona Agafonova

    Alyona Agafonova, a blogger from Samara, accused of desecrating a symbol of military glory because of her video filmed near the monument "The Motherland is Calling!" has been left in custody until June 19.

March 28, 2024 22:13

March 27, 2024 16:51

March 27, 2024 14:49

March 26, 2024 23:13

  • Analysts dispute on risks of IS'* intensifying in Northern Caucasus

    After the terror act at the Crocus City Hall, in Northern Caucasus, there is a risk of intensification of militants of the IS*, although no terror acts on civilians have not been observed there since 2018. This was noted by Sergey Goncharov, a veteran of special services, and Andrei Koshkin, a military expert.

News archive