Relatives report about torture of Muslims arrested in Kabardino-Balkaria
At least several men arrested in May during a series of searches in Nalchik and Nartan have complained to their advocates about torture. Relatives of the defendants are seeking a meeting with the leader of Kabardino-Balkaria.
Relatives of detained residents of Kabardino-Balkaria told the “Caucasian Knot” how the police were conducting searches on the night of May 15. The law enforcers did not answer any questions, claimed a spouse of 23-year-old Arthur Tenov, one of the detainees.
“They burst into our home in the middle of the night, woke everyone up, detained Arthur, and took him with them to some unknown destination. On some piece of paper, I saw that Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation was mentioned. And then I looked what it meant and saw that the article was about organizing and participating in the activities of a terrorist organization. During the search I stayed in a room, but at some point I went into the kitchen to get a drink of water. Then I come back, and an investigator showed me some mobile phone and asked whose it was. All our mobile phones were iPhones, and the policemen took them all, but they planted that mobile phone of an unknown brand,” Elina Daurova stated.
The woman has also claimed that in another room, the law enforcers planted a SIM card on them. “There, another investigator takes my husband’s briefcase, gives it to me, I shake it out, it’s empty. Then he puts his gloved hand in the briefcase, rummages around it for a long time and pulls out a Beeline SIM card from somewhere, but we only had Megafon and Yota SIM cards,” the woman reported.
The mother of detained Timur Bersekov complained that her son was subjected to torture. “That night, they detained my youngest son. He is 36 years old, and he works as a loader. After his detention, he was tortured and beaten, and he told his advocate about that. “His arm seems to be broken. There are bruises on his body and wounds on his head,” Iza Bersekova told the “Caucasian Knot”.
The advocate has filed complaints about torture and is waiting for a response from the law enforcement bodies. “Timur did nothing criminal and never violated anything: he is just a religious person who prays and goes to the mosque. We ask to stop the lawlessness and release our guys,” the woman emphasized.
Amin Khurum, born in 2001, was also among those detained. “They broke into our house at night, at first we did not understand anything. They did not say why he was detained. And then there was a court hearing on the pre-trial restriction measure, and the court announced Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation as the charge, stating that Amin and his colleagues were allegedly members of some cell and planned something, but there is no evidence. After his detention, they held Amin with a plastic bag on his head, his hands were wrapped with tape, but he did not admit guilt and did not sign any document,” said his mother Ganga Makhmudova.
The woman also claimed that during the search, law enforcers planted a mobile phone and a SIM card in their house. “I saw that they planted the mobile phone. There were witnesses, yes, the law enforcers came with them, but they did not record that. However, the law enforcers took fingerprints in my presence and there was not a single fingerprint of my son on the mobile phone, and they told me this right away. According to their report, the mobile phone supposedly contains some information,” the mother of detained Amin Khurum stated.
39-year-old Zaur Zholabov, a father of four minor children, was also detained on May 14. His mother reported that the police came to their home at about two o’clock in the morning.
“My son opened the door, and they immediately burst in, knocked my son down, and pushed him to the ground with three submachine guns. And he suffers from health problems, he can hardly breathe, but they crush him with their submachine guns, he’s suffocating. They took him away with them. The submachine gunners went out, and people in masks and gloves came in to search the house,” Fatimat Zholabova, a mother of Zaur Zholabov, told the “Caucasian Knot”.
A mobile phone of unknown origin also appeared during the search of the Zholabovs’ house. “They poked around in the bedrooms, but they didn’t find anything. Then they checked in the toilet and in the kitchen and found nothing again. We go up to the second floor, and one of them immediately goes into the room, puts something on a cabinet, walks away, and approaches the cabinet again, looks there in surprise, and slowly takes out some mobile phone, unfamiliar to us. He asks: ‘Is it yours?’ I reply: ‘No, you took all our mobile phones.’ The witnesses stayed on the ground floor, and they didn’t see anything, but they signed everything as the law enforcers requested,” the mother of Zaur Zholabov noted.
The detained man’s mother claims that Zaur was tortured after his detention. “The advocate tells us that Zaur asks for a doctor. He has got a bruise on his forehead and nose and problems with his groin, he needs a urologist. He was tortured. The advocate succeeded in seeking to conduct a forensic examination, but it was not done until eleven days passed after the torture. But we will file complaints to all public institutions so that the fact of torture is made public and everyone who tortured my son is punished,” the woman emphasized.
Zaur worked as a builder, but doctors forbade him from working hard because of his health problems. “He is a builder, but he has not worked for the last year because of his health problems. He had an upper respiratory tract infection. The doctors prescribed him chemotherapy. The first chemotherapy procedure was done in Moscow, and in May, Zaur was supposed to undergo the second chemotherapy procedure in Nalchik under a quota, but he didn’t have time for that. He was detained on May 14. He feels very bad in a SIZO (pre-trial prison). He needs medicine, he needs a doctor, and he has got problems with breathing,” The detained man’s mother complained.
Among those detained on the night of May 14 was also 23-year-old Eduard Prosvirin from Nalchik. His mother states that Eduard was a student and worked part-time at construction sites to provide for his family.
“He studies at the Moscow State University of Food Production, in his fifth year of studying biotechnology. He was supposed to fly to Moscow to defend his diploma. At two o’clock in the morning, FSB officers burst into his apartment. They twisted his arms, didn’t even let him get dressed. They quickly searched the apartment, but they didn’t find anything illegal. They took his gaming PC, all his mobile phones, and his wife’s banking card. Thank God they didn’t plant anything illegal to us,” reported Yamze Prosvirina, the mother of detained Eduard Prosvirin.
Eduard converted to Islam three years ago and was a practicing Muslim. “He is an ordinary law-abiding citizen, a very kind and decent person, a real family man. On the other day, he was arrested, and we still do not understand why exactly. They say he is arrested for some extremist actions, but they do not tell me what actions,” Yamze Prosvirina reported.
There is no exact data on the number of detained and arrested persons, notes Zaur Shokuev, a lawyer for the Kabardino-Balkarian Regional Human Rights Centre (HRC).
“Six residents contacted us and complained that their relatives were detained and then arrested. The names of those detainees are known, but there is no exact data yet concerning how many citizens were detained and then arrested or released,” the “Caucasian Knot” was told by the lawyer.
The lawyer notes that mass detentions also took place earlier, but this case is distinguished by the similarity of the searches. “All the citizens who contacted us said that during the searches the police found mobile phones that they saw for the first time,” the lawyer noted.
Relatives of the detained persons ask for a meeting with the leader of Kabardino-Balkaria, human rights defender Valery Khatazhukov reports. “We have requested the prosecutor’s office to study the complaints of relatives and sort things out, and we have also sent an appeal to the Human Rights Commissioner for Kabardino-Balkaria Boris Zumakulov,” the human rights defender told the “Caucasian Knot”.
This was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 5, 2025 at 03:53 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.