Russian law enforcement agencies have claimed that members of the Batalkhadzhin Sufi community were linked to the Caucasus Emirate*, a militant Islamist organisation. Human rights advocates, however, have questioned the allegations, noting that the group effectively ceased to exist more than a decade ago and that publicly available case materials contain little evidence of specific acts of support for militants.
The Basmanny District Court of Moscow will consider cases of “fake news” about the Russian army against the spouses Denis and Maria Mamedov. They were forced to leave the Russian Federation and massively sent anti-war letters to social networks and authorities.
Until October 2022, Maria Mamedova worked as a specialist in the forensic examination center of the Ministry of Justice for Stavropol. She was asked to organize a fundraiser for those mobilized for the “SVO”, and after she refused they began to threaten her. Soon the woman and her husband left the Russian Federation, and two weeks later the security forces came to Denis’s parents.
After leaving Russia, the Mamedovs began actively making anti-war publications on social networks. In addition, the couple sent an anti-war letter to the working email addresses of Russian laboratories and forensic centers, and also sent several dozen complaints to government agencies demanding an end to the war.