Report on Human Rights Violations in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic

September 2026
Khava Beshtoeva

An analysis of open sources for September 2026, including data from human rights organisations, independent media and materials from court proceedings, reveals the permanence of the trend towards violations of human rights and freedoms by the authorities, security structures and judicial bodies of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic. Documented incidents record a deep crisis of the penitentiary and law-enforcement systems, expressed in the deliberate “medical blockade” of seriously ill prisoners, the application of torturous conditions of detention and judicial manipulations with sentences in order to block conditional early release. Particularly relevant are the facts of repressive pressure on minors in the digital space through the practice of public “forced apologies on camera,” as well as the final eradication of the remnants of political pluralism by means of forcible intimidation of independent candidates. The coordinated actions of the regional repressive apparatus and military courts aimed at fabricating large-scale “terrorist cells” on the basis of exclusively digital evidence and the forced deprivatisation of the assets of local nomenklatura clans against the background of the “special military operation” necessitate the urgent activation of human rights efforts in the republic.

Twelve years later: a court in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic arrested a local resident in absentia, renewing the practice of prosecution for events more than a decade old

The Ust-Dzhegutinsky District Court of Karachay-Cherkessia issued a decision on the arrest in absentia of a local resident accused of involvement in the activities of the international terrorist organisation “Islamic State” (ISIS) on the territory of Syria. The corresponding press release was distributed by the joint press service of the courts of the region.
https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/8925339

According to the investigation materials, in 2014 the defendant flew from Russia to Turkey and then transitively arrived in the Syrian Arab Republic, where she allegedly voluntarily joined the ranks of militants.

Twelve years later the law-enforcement agencies resumed the prosecution: in July 2026 the woman was put on the federal wanted list, and on 10 August an official charge in absentia was brought against her. Already on 18 August her data were transferred to Interpol for the organisation of an international search.

The criminal case is qualified under the article on participation in a terrorist organisation, which provides for a sentence of imprisonment for a term of 10 to 20 years. The court ordered that the accused be taken into custody for a period of two months, which will begin to be calculated from the moment of her possible detention on the territory of the Russian Federation or extradition to the country.
https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/426313

Human rights defenders note that similar processes concerning events of the mid-2010s are systemic in nature in the North Caucasus. In parallel, the North Caucasian District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don regularly hands down severe sentences to natives of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic for analogous episodes: for example, local resident Ruslan Botashev received 18 years in a strict-regime colony, and Ikhtier Bekturdiev from Cherkessk was sentenced to 16 years of imprisonment for alleged participation in ISIS.

This incident illustrates the systemic practice of resuscitating criminal cases a decade old in the North Caucasus, which creates serious risks for the observance of the rights to a fair trial and defence.

From a legal point of view, the resumption of criminal prosecution for events of 2014 illustrates the specificity of the application of the norms of the General Part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation to crimes of a terrorist orientation. In accordance with Article 78 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Release from criminal liability in connection with the expiry of the statute of limitations), for especially grave crimes the maximum statute of limitations is 15 years. However, Part 5 of the same article enshrines an unconditional legal immunity for key “terrorist” compositions: the statutes of limitations do not apply at all if a person is charged with the commission of crimes provided for by Articles 205, 205.1, 205.3, 205.4, 205.5 and a number of others. At the same time it is not superfluous to recall that “terrorism” may be recognised as both the transfer of funds to the Anti-Corruption Foundation and the worship of Jehovah’s Witnesses, as well as opposition anti-war comments on the Internet.

Since the charge in this case is qualified under Part 2 of Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (participation in the activities of a terrorist organisation), the investigative bodies have unlimited time frames for initiating prosecution. Human rights lawyers emphasise that the key procedural trigger for circumventing standard procedures and issuing an arrest in absentia is the issuance of a decision to put a person on the wanted list. According to Part 3 of Article 78 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the running of the statute of limitations is suspended if a person is evading investigation or trial. Declaring a person wanted internationally through Interpol allows the investigation to conserve a criminal case for an indefinite period, depriving the accused of the opportunity effectively to use mechanisms of defence, to demand confrontations and to present an alibi because of the remoteness of the events that took place and physical absence from the territory of the Russian Federation.

The declaration of a resident of Karachay-Cherkessia as internationally wanted through Interpol 12 years after her alleged departure for Syria via Turkey highlights a critical problem faced by thousands of natives of the North Caucasus.

Historically Turkey was a key transit hub and safe haven for Caucasian emigration, but in recent years the legal position of refugees in that country has deteriorated sharply.

Today the Caucasian community in Turkey is in a zone of elevated risk because of the combination of two factors: the abuse by Russian security agencies of Interpol channels (the so-called “red notices” or Red Notices) and the tightening of Ankara’s internal migration policy.

1. The mechanism of deportation camps and restriction codes (G-87)

Starting from the 2020s, the Turkish migration authorities actively apply to natives of the North Caucasus and Central Asia administrative restriction codes, the most dangerous of which is code G-87 (“Threat to national security”).

The code is assigned by the General Directorate of Migration Management of Turkey on the basis of operational data of the local special services or upon receipt of requests from foreign states through Interpol. No decision of a Turkish court is required for its assignment — a suspicion of radicalisation or involvement in extremist structures is sufficient.

Persons who have received this code are subject to immediate detention and placement in deportation centres (Repatriation Centers, for example the camps in Selimpasa, Tuzla and other regions). The conditions of detention in these centres are often equated by human rights defenders with prison conditions, and access to independent lawyers there is extremely limited.

2. The instrumentalisation of Interpol by the Russian Federation

Human rights organisations, including SafeGuard Defenders and Red Notice Monitor, have repeatedly stated that the Russian Federation systematically uses the mechanisms of Interpol for the politically motivated persecution of opponents and refugees. In the context of the North Caucasus this is manifested in the mass dispatch of requests under “terrorist” and “extremist” articles.

This issue has received emergency international development: the problem was officially raised at the level of the United Nations (UN). Within the framework of specialised committees and working groups of the UN on human rights, independent experts and international rapporteurs initiated the examination of the facts of the abuse of international criminal search by the Russian Federation. The international community qualifies such actions as the direct use of transnational institutions of justice for the persecution of Caucasian refugees, activists and persons seeking asylum in third countries — in particular in Turkey — which violates the basic principles of the UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and undermines trust in the global Interpol system.

As the current case from the Karachay-Cherkess Republic demonstrates, cases a decade old (departure in 2014) are deliberately “resuscitated” by the investigation years later.

A person’s appearance in the Interpol database automatically makes him or her unable to leave Turkey, blocks the possibility of legalisation and closes access to banking and social infrastructure.

3. The practice of “hidden deportation” and humanitarian risks

Despite the fact that Turkey is bound by obligations under the European Convention on Extradition and the international principle of non-refoulement (the prohibition of expulsion to a place where a person is threatened with torture and death), Ankara regularly practises forced removal.

Instead of the complex and public procedure of classical extradition through a court, the Turkish authorities often use the mechanism of administrative deportation for violation of the migration regime or on the basis of security codes.

While in deportation camps under harsh psychological pressure and in informational isolation, Caucasian detainees often sign papers on “voluntary return” (Gönüllü Geri Dönüş), after which they are put on flights to the Russian Federation.

Upon return to Russia, persons extradited or deported on requests of alleged involvement in banned structures fall under the full control of the regional directorates of the FSB. Human rights defenders record that in relation to such detainees in the North Caucasus torture, cruel physical violence and closed court proceedings are applied almost universally, resulting in sentences of 15–18 years of imprisonment. The risk of extradition makes Caucasian refugees in Turkey one of the most vulnerable and unprotected groups in the region.

Fabrication of “terrorist cells”: the Southern District Military Court sentenced a resident of Cherkessk to 16 years on the basis of “digital evidence”

The Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don handed down a severe convicting judgment in respect of a resident of Cherkessk (Karachay-Cherkess Republic), a citizen of Uzbekistan, Ikhtiyor Bekturdiev. The judicial panel found the foreign citizen guilty under Part 2 of Article 205.5 (Participation in the activities of a terrorist organisation) and Part 1.1 of Article 205.1 (Assistance to terrorist activity) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/8990299

Bekturdiev was sentenced to 16 years of imprisonment in a strict-regime correctional colony, with the first three years to be served by the convict under the harshest conditions — in a prison. At present the judgment has not yet entered into legal force and may be appealed by the defence in the appellate procedure.
https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/427073

This court process reflects a systemic repressive trend of the law-enforcement agencies in the North Caucasus: the mass construction of cases of “underground cells” on the basis of exclusively “digital traces” and secret testimony.

According to the official version of the investigation, supported by the military court, the chronology and essence of the incident appear as follows:

It is asserted that in the period from July to October 2023 Bekturdiev, while living in Cherkessk, conducted correspondence in an unnamed messenger with an “unidentified participant” of a grouping structurally forming part of the international terrorist organisation “Islamic State” (ISIS). In the course of this communication the defendant allegedly “joined radical ideology.”

According to the investigation, in October 2023 the man recorded on the camera of his mobile telephone a video address in which he read an oath of allegiance to one of the leaders of ISIS, after which he forwarded the media file to his virtual curator.

The most serious element of the charge (assistance to terrorism) is built on the assertion that from December 2023 to 14 April 2025 Bekturdiev, carrying out instructions from the messenger, conducted agitation among his close circle. According to the court, he proposed that six natives of the Republic of Uzbekistan join the banned organisation. The investigation states that as a result of these actions one of his acquaintances agreed to join the virtual cell.

Systemic markers of the fabrication of criminal cases. Lawyers and human rights monitoring groups analysing the practice of the consideration of cases under Articles 205.1 and 205.5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in the Southern District Military Court identify in the Bekturdiev case several cross-cutting patterns that raise serious doubts about the fairness of the proceedings:

1. Absolute autonomy of “digital evidence”: The sole material evidence of participation in a terrorist structure is often a single video recording of an oath or a text log of correspondence on a telephone. In conditions of the complete isolation of detained migrants, the absence of independent lawyers at the early stages and the language barrier, such video recordings are often made under direct physical pressure, threats of deportation of the family or under the dictation of special-service officers, not to mention the complete absence of verification of such recordings for authenticity.
2. The figure of the “unidentified curator”: The use in the case materials of mythical “unidentified participants” located abroad allows the investigation not to provide real evidence of the existence of a terrorist network. It is sufficient for operatives to state that the correspondence was conducted with an account allegedly linked to ISIS.
3. Accusation on the basis of oral testimony of “witnesses”: The recruitment of six compatriots in Cherkessk is, as a rule, proved in court exclusively by the protocols of the interrogations of these very compatriots. Being under the threat of the annulment of patents, expulsion from the Russian Federation or prosecution for “failure to report a crime” (Article 205.6 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), labour migrants are forced to sign any testimony prepared by FSB investigators against their acquaintance.
4. The conveyor character of accusations against migrants: The Bekturdiev case is not unique. Earlier the Southern District Military Court convicted under a similar scheme a citizen of Tajikistan, Alimardon Karimov. He was charged with an oath to ISIS which he allegedly took while serving a sentence in a colony in Stavropol Territory. Migrants from Central Asia are one of the most rightless and vulnerable groups before the Russian law-enforcement system: they have no resources to pay for qualified defence, and their cases are considered in a regime closed to the public.

Particularly harsh penitentiary regime. The imposition on Bekturdiev of the first 3 years of serving the sentence in a prison (with subsequent transfer to a strict-regime colony) is an extreme measure of suppression. The prison regime in the Russian Federation presupposes the constant presence of the prisoner in locked cell premises, strict limitation of walks, visits and parcels. For foreign citizens deprived of the support of relatives on the territory of the region, such conditions mean complete physical and informational isolation, coupled with a high risk of the application of impermissible methods of influence by the camp administration without the possibility of the timely recording of violations by human rights defenders. And the only means offered to them today of avoiding suffering and threats remains the signing of a contract for the war.

Human rights organisations continue to collect information on violations of the rights of foreign citizens and labour migrants in the course of closed court processes in the North Caucasus.

The case of the disabled mountaineer Mikhail Semyonov exposed penitentiary arbitrariness in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic

The security and judicial bodies of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic demonstrate consistent disregard for the rights of seriously ill prisoners. The example of the well-known regional mountaineer from Teberda, a Group II disabled person, Mikhail Semyonov, clearly illustrates the use of the law-enforcement system as an instrument of punitive pressure. A comprehensive analysis of the case materials reveals not only deliberate procedural manipulations with the terms of imprisonment, but also the gross violation of national and international norms in the sphere of the protection of the health of persons deprived of liberty.

The mountaineer from Karachay-Cherkessia Mikhail Semyonov is serving a sentence for the illegal crossing of the state border of the Russian Federation (through the Eastern Klukhori border pass in the direction of Abkhazia in April 2024). The court sentenced him to 1 year of imprisonment in a settlement colony.

Human rights sources and the convict’s wife link the severity of the prosecution and the subsequent pressure in the detention facilities with Semyonov’s conflict with local security forces. The mountaineer openly criticised the situation around the Klukhori Pass, stating that the management of the Teberda Nature Reserve, under the patronage of the security structures, organised for a fee illegal trips for outsiders to the closed border pass.

In July the 38-year-old Mikhail Semyonov, who has a serious chronic heart disease and the official status of a Group II disabled person, was detained by officers of the security agencies in Karachay-Cherkessia. The formal reason for placing the seriously ill person in custody was a formal violation of the deadline for reporting to the settlement colony. Human rights lawyers emphasise that this detention was from the outset knowingly unfounded and unlawful.

At the moment of the imputed violation Semyonov was undergoing treatment and a specialised programme of medical rehabilitation. According to the legislation of the Russian Federation in force, the undergoing of therapeutic and restorative procedures is an unconditional valid reason for the postponement of the deadlines for reporting to the penitentiary bodies.

Despite the presence of medical documents, the court ignored the legal arguments of the defence and sanctioned the arrest, launching a conveyor of physical and psychological pressure on the convict.

In September the mountaineer’s wife made a public statement about the catastrophic conditions in which her husband is being held and about the open refusal of the authorities to provide him with adequate medical care.

The chronology of Semyonov’s penitentiary movements was accompanied by continuous human rights violations:

• Pre-trial detention centre of Cherkessk (Karachay-Cherkess Republic): In the first weeks after the arrest the disabled person with a heart pathology encountered the complete absence of specialised treatment. Complaints about the deterioration of his condition were ignored by the administration of the pre-trial detention centre.

• Pre-trial detention centre of the Moscow Region: After transfer to the central region the situation did not change. Semyonov unsuccessfully sought basic medical examinations and the issuance of vitally necessary cardiological medicines, which in human rights practice is equated with cruel and degrading treatment (Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights).

• Pressure in the settlement colony: On 22 September the prisoner’s wife reported that after his transfer to the settlement colony the administration of the institution continued to exert coordinated pressure on Semyonov, obstructing his legal attempts to protect his rights.
https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/426880

The culmination of the systemic arbitrariness on the part of the judicial branch of power in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic was the official refusal to satisfy Mikhail Semyonov’s petition for conditional early release (parole). The court of general jurisdiction motivated its decision by a formal pretext, considering that the mandatory term of serving the sentence for the filing of the application “had not yet expired.” Semyonov’s defence categorically disagrees with this conclusion and has stated its intention to appeal the judicial act. The lawyers point to a direct legal error in the court’s calculations: the regional judges deliberately applied an incorrect methodology for calculating the time served, not counting in the overall period of the sentence the days spent by Semyonov in the conditions of a pre-trial detention centre at the stage of the investigation and transfers, or interpreting the penitentiary norms with maximum detriment to the interests of the seriously ill convict. The artificial prolongation of the terms of parole for a person with Group II disability of the heart under conditions of continuous pressure turns the remaining part of the sentence into a real threat to his life.
https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/426732

The case of Mikhail Semyonov in Karachay-Cherkessia demonstrates a dangerous precedent of the consolidation of investigative, camp and judicial bodies with the aim of circumventing the direct norms of the law. The situation exposes the following key deviations of the legal system of the region:

1. Ignoring of medical criteria in the execution of punishments: In the Karachay-Cherkess Republic the status of a Group II disabled person and the presence of heart defects have ceased to serve as a stop-signal for the isolation of a person in a pre-trial detention centre. The management of the penitentiary system has completely withdrawn from control over the quality of prison medicine, and in the courts this problem as a risk for the detainee or convict is ignored.
2. Procedural forgery in the calculation of terms: Erroneous calculations of the time of serving the sentence for the blocking of parole indicate the deliberate practice of the courts of “retaining” convicts in colonies contrary to legal grounds.
3. Impunity for failure to provide emergency assistance: The fact that Semyonov’s complaints about his health were ignored in several detention centres in succession proves the inter-regional character of the problem of medical discrimination in the structure of the Federal Penitentiary Service.

The defence of the rights of Mikhail Semyonov requires the immediate intervention of the prosecutor’s offices for supervision of compliance with the laws in correctional institutions, as well as the filing of urgent complaints on the fact of the failure to provide medical assistance.

Centre “E” intimidates schoolchildren

Officers of the Centre for Countering Extremism (CCE) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Karachay-Cherkessia identified on the Internet a publication with symbolism banned in the Russian Federation, posted by a 15-year-old resident of Cherkessk. The regional security agency did not specify the image of which organisation or movement the minor had disseminated.

After establishing the identity of the account owner, the operatives conducted a preventive conversation with the schoolgirl in the presence of her mother. An administrative protocol was drawn up against the parents of the minor under the article on failure to fulfil the duties of the maintenance and upbringing of children, which provides for a punishment in the form of a warning or a monetary fine in the amount of 500 to 2,000 roubles.

In addition, the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Karachay-Cherkess Republic published in its official Telegram channel a video recording with the schoolgirl’s apologies. On camera the minor called what had happened “a great lesson,” stated the inadmissibility of such actions, confirmed that she had been held liable and called on Internet users not to commit analogous acts.

Instead of standard pedagogical or preventive measures, the security forces launched against the child a full-scale flywheel of public humiliation.

An administrative protocol for “failure to fulfil the duties of upbringing” was promptly drawn up against the girl’s parents, but the main element of psychological pressure on the part of the state became the publication of the video recording with the schoolgirl’s apologies in the official Telegram channel of the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs. On camera the frightened child calls her act “stupid” and states that she “has borne responsibility for it.” At the same time the security agency deliberately classified the information, refusing to specify exactly what symbolism the girl had posted. This deprives the public of the opportunity to assess the real degree of the “offence,” which could have been an ordinary meme, a pacifist sign or a historical illustration.

Human rights defenders traditionally criticise the practice of the publication by security forces of video recordings with the apologies of detainees, especially minors, pointing to gross psychological pressure, violation of the rights of the child and the principle of confidentiality.
https://m.vk.ru/wall-49559624_26342
https://www.instagram.com/reels/DdwCUwvtESX/

Recently human rights defenders and independent monitoring groups have been recording an extremely dangerous trend in the regions of the South of Russia and the North Caucasus: minors are increasingly becoming victims of criminal and administrative prosecution.

The Russian law-enforcement system and the special services have finally erased age boundaries in the conduct of punitive measures, turning adolescents and schoolchildren into a convenient resource for the fulfilment of departmental plans for the fight against “extremism” and “sabotage.”

The latest incident in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic clearly demonstrates how the Centre for Countering Extremism (CCE) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is unfolding a full-scale hunt for children in the digital space.

Cross-cutting patterns of the persecution of minors in the South of Russia

A human rights analysis of the incidents recorded in recent times makes it possible to identify three key directions in which minors have come under attack:

1. Fabrication of cases of “sabotage” through recruitment (the case of the victims of railway arsons):

The investigative bodies of the FSB in the southern regions are massively transferring deceived adolescents from the category of victims to the category of accused under especially grave state articles. Infiltrating youth chats, the curators (often acting in the role of provocateurs) by means of manipulations, blackmail or small monetary promises incline adolescents to minor arsons of relay cabinets or railway infrastructure. The law-enforcement system completely ignores the age of the children, the circumstances of their being misled and the absence of a conscious terrorist intent, sending schoolchildren to court by the conveyor method with the prospect of imprisonment for terms of up to 10–15 years.

2. The instrumentalisation of “forced apologies” on camera:

The practice of recording penitential video clips, which originated in Chechnya, has now been officially scaled by the special services and the Ministry of Internal Affairs throughout the North Caucasian Federal District (NCFD). The publication of a video recording with the face of a 15-year-old child on departmental resources is a direct violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the principle of the confidentiality of justice in respect of minors and the basic norms of protection from psychological violence. The child is used as a visual aid for the intimidation of the entire remaining youth of the region.

3. Preventive deprivation of rights through “extremist” registers:

Minor activists on the distant approaches are deprived of civil rights. A vivid example in the macro-region is the case of a native of Adygea, schoolboy Kevin Lik, who at a minor age became the youngest defendant in a case of “high treason” in the history of the Russian Federation, passed through prison walls and was released only within the framework of a large-scale international prisoner exchange.

The criminalisation of the actions of minors and the use of methods of public moral pressure testify to the fact that the state security structures in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic and neighbouring republics no longer see a difference between radical underground groups and adolescents committing chaotic or unconscious actions online.

Pressure on children is a sign of the final degradation of legal institutions, where Centre “E” and the FSB, for the sake of reporting, break the lives of minor citizens, depriving them of the right to make a mistake and of fair treatment on the part of the state. Human rights organisations demand the immediate cessation of the practice of publishing the faces and apologies of children in departmental channels and call on international institutions for the protection of the rights of the child to pay close attention to the situation in the North Caucasus.

Eradication of political pluralism: in Karachay-Cherkessia independent candidacy in the elections to the State Duma was liquidated

The electoral campaign for the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic clearly demonstrated the final dismantling of the institutions of legal political competition. The removal from the pre-election race of the candidate from the opposition party “Yabloko,” Akhmed Abazov, was the result of coordinated administrative pressure and direct threats.

This incident is part of an all-Russian trend towards the complete liquidation of the remnants of political pluralism, turning electoral processes into a formal procedure for the approval of figures appointed by the authorities.

Akhmed Abazov was officially nominated by the “Yabloko” party as a candidate for deputy of the State Duma of the eighth convocation in the Karachay-Cherkess single-mandate electoral district No. 16.

However, the independent politician was unable to engage fully in the electoral process. Immediately after the nomination Abazov encountered massive pressure on the part of the regional authorities and the security structures of the republic. According to reports of representatives of the regional branch of the party, the candidate was openly given to understand that the continuation of the campaign would entail harsh repressions of a personal and economic character. Being under continuous psychological and administrative pressure, Abazov was forced to submit an official application to the Electoral Commission of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic on the annulment of his nomination and the withdrawal of his candidacy. The Electoral Commission of Karachay-Cherkessia promptly reacted to the application, cancelling the decision on the registration of Abazov. As a result the electoral district was completely cleared of an alternative opposition agenda.

The case of Akhmed Abazov in Karachay-Cherkessia is not a local anomaly. It is a systemic manifestation of the state policy of destroying any forms of independent representation in contemporary Russia.

A human rights analysis identifies several key elements of this repressive strategy:

1. Criminalisation and blocking of systemic opposition: The “Yabloko” party remains one of the last legally registered political structures openly advancing a pacifist and democratic programme. The forced removal of its candidates through instruments of intimidation proves that the authorities no longer tolerate even minimal critical opinion in the official electoral field.
2. Monopolisation of the electoral space: The electoral system of the Russian Federation has been transformed into a mechanism for the sterile distribution of mandates between the “party of power” and systemic satellites fully loyal to the Kremlin. Any candidate capable of accumulating the protest moods of local communities is cut off on the distant approaches to voting.
3. Use of the regional administrative resource as a forcible instrument: In the North Caucasus the methods of pressure on independent candidates traditionally have the harshest character. The absence of control on the part of independent civil society allows local officials to bring into play the entire arsenal of the special services, threatening activists with criminal prosecution, loss of work or business.

The displacement of Akhmed Abazov from the legal political field deprives the residents of Karachay-Cherkessia of the opportunity for the peaceful and lawful expression of their disagreement with the current socio-economic and political course. Human rights defenders state: the eradication of a political alternative inevitably leads to the radicalisation of protest moods in the region, since the legal channels of dialogue between society and the state have been finally destroyed.

The documented fact of the forced withdrawal of the candidate in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic will be included in the general monitoring reports on the falsification and undemocratic character of the federal electoral cycle.
https://www.currenttime.tv/a/abazov-snyalsya-s-vyborov-iz-za-ugroz/33858986.html
https://ovd.info/index.php/story/golosovanie-18-20-sentyabrya-khronika?news_id=76105

The forced withdrawal of Akhmed Abazov in Karachay-Cherkessia is part of a large-scale and systemic campaign to prevent independent candidates from participating in the elections in the North Caucasian Federal District (NCFD). Electoral processes in the republics of the North Caucasus are traditionally characterised by the harsh application of the administrative resource; however, in the current electoral cycle human rights monitoring groups record the total clearance of the political space of any alternative forces.

According to independent electoral experts, the NCFD demonstrates the lowest indicators of political pluralism in the Russian Federation.

The patterns of the non-admission of independent opposition in the region are divided into three key strategies:

1. Forced refusals under forcible and economic pressure.

The case in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic reflects the most closed but extremely effective method of the Caucasian administrations. In conditions where a candidate has a high level of personal recognition in the republic and is capable of accumulating real protest votes, the security apparatus is brought into play against him.

Human rights defenders record that candidates and members of their families are threatened with:

• The initiation of criminal cases under “extremist” or economic articles.

• The immediate dismissal of relatives from budgetary and state institutions.

• The complete destruction of personal or family business through unscheduled inspections by the controlling bodies.

As a result of such measures candidates submit “voluntary” applications for the annulment of registration, which allows the electoral commissions to report the absence of official complaints and refusals on the part of the agencies.

2. Rejection of signatures and administrative barriers of the electoral commissions.

For self-nominated candidates and representatives of non-parliamentary opposition parties (such as “Yabloko” or regional independent platforms) the electoral commissions of the republics of the NCFD use the conveyor rejection of voters’ signatures.

In Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria and Stavropol Territory the percentage of recognition of signatures as “invalid” according to the conclusions of staff handwriting experts of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in respect of independent candidates reaches 85–90%.

At the same time the courts of general jurisdiction in the North Caucasus in 100% of cases side with the electoral commissions, refusing candidates the satisfaction of appeals and the conduct of independent handwriting expert examinations.

3. Criminalisation of activists on the distant approaches to campaigns.

The harshest method of clearing the electoral field in the NCFD is the preventive criminal prosecution of leaders of public opinion long before the official start of the electoral campaign. A vivid example of this strategy is the regular inclusion by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation of local human rights defenders and Circassian, Karachay or Ingush national activists in the registers of “foreign agents,” as well as in the lists of “extremists and terrorists” of Rosfinmonitoring, as happened with the activist from Adygea Rustam Khuazhev. The receipt of such a status automatically deprives a citizen of passive electoral rights, completely closing to him legal access to political activity on the territory of the Russian Federation.
https://verstka.media/bolee-60-oppoziczionnyh-kandidatov-snyali-s-vyborov-iz-za-ekstremizma-problem-s-dokumentami-i-inostrannyh-akczij

Human rights defenders state that in the NCFD the electoral system has finally turned into a sterile instrument for the legitimation of regional elites, where candidates from the opposition are cut off with the application of methods of direct intimidation, depriving the multi-national population of the North Caucasus of the right to representation of their interests.

Deprivatisation and the mobilisational character of justice against the background of the “special military operation”

In September 2026 Rosimushchestvo again put up for auction a confiscated mansion in Yessentuki that previously belonged to the former chairman of the government of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Vladimir Kaishev. According to the official documentation, the starting price of the residential house with an area of 308.7 sq. m and a land plot with an area of more than 2.8 hectares is set at 55.821 million roubles. The previous auction, where the lot was traded for 57.262 million, was declared unsuccessful due to the absence of buyers. The right of ownership of the Russian Federation to these objects was registered in February of the current year on the basis of a court decision on the transfer of the assets of the former official to the income of the state.
https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/9005776
https://www.instagram.com/p/Dd4n2b7RQmK/

This auction clearly illustrates the large-scale all-Russian trend of the period of the special military operation (SMO), within the framework of which the federal authorities have sharply intensified anti-corruption prosecution of regional elites. Against the background of the SMO the state system has gone over to the practice of total deprivatisation and the mass seizure of multi-billion assets from high-ranking officials. Thus, in September 2025 the court satisfied an unprecedented claim of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation, confiscating from Vladimir Kaishev property to the astronomical sum of almost 42 billion roubles. In December of the same year the decision was confirmed by the appeal, and Kaishev himself in April of the current year filed a cassation complaint, trying to contest the seizure.

In parallel in Stavropol Territory a criminal process is unfolding against the former premier of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, his brother Yuri and a number of accomplices. Within the framework of the campaign for the deconstruction of regional clans they have been charged with the organisation of a criminal community (Part 3 of Article 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), large-scale thefts from a gas pipeline, fraud, extortion and abuse of official powers. In addition, Vladimir Kaishev is charged with the organisation of a contract killing. The seizure and sale of the property of such large officials underline that in the conditions of the SMO the federal centre no longer guarantees the inviolability of the capitals of the local nomenklatura, turning confiscation into an instrument for replenishing the budget and redistributing resources.
https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/426996

In parallel in September 2026 the judicial panel for civil cases of the Supreme Court of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic upheld the decision of the first instance on the transfer to the income of the state of property with a total value of 307 million roubles belonging to the former minister of property and land relations and former vice-premier of the region Dmitry Bugaev, as well as members of his family. The appellate instance left unchanged the verdict of the Cherkessk City Court of May of the current year, according to which 22 objects of highly liquid real estate and three automobiles were confiscated from the former official and his relatives, and more than 64 million roubles were additionally recovered as the monetary equivalent of already alienated property.
https://www.interfax-russia.ru/south-and-north-caucasus/news/sud-podtverdil-konfiskaciyu-aktivov-na-307-mln-rubley-u-byvshego-vice-premera-kchr

According to the prosecutor’s office, in the period of holding various leading positions in the executive bodies of the republic from 2015 to 2025 Bugaev acquired expensive assets and deliberately registered them in the names of close relatives and affiliated persons with the aim of concealment. In the course of the proceedings the legality of the sources of income on which these transactions were made was not confirmed. In parallel criminal prosecution is being conducted against the former minister under the article on abuse of official powers, within the framework of which in August the court extended for him the measure of restraint in the form of detention.
https://yugsn.ru/v-cherkesske-sud-izyal-aktivy-eks-ministra-kchr-bugaeva-10595309
https://expertsouth.ru/news/sud-podtverdil-konfiskatsiyu-aktivov-na-307-mln-rubley-u-eksvitsepremera-kchr/

This court decision serves as yet another weighty proof of the large-scale and permanent trend that has unfolded against the background of the special military operation (SMO). The confiscation of multi-million assets of Dmitry Bugaev, which followed immediately after the unprecedented seizure of property worth 42 billion roubles from another former premier of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Vladimir Kaishev, confirms that the federal centre has completely reformatted anti-corruption policy in the regions. In the conditions of the SMO the law-enforcement and judicial systems have gone over to the conveyor seizure of the hidden capitals of the local nomenklatura, using the mechanisms of deprivatisation and civil confiscation for the demonstrative destruction of regional clans and the mobilisation of resources in favour of the state.

The cases of Kaishev and Bugaev clearly demonstrate that against the background of the SMO the federal centre has radically changed the rules of interaction with the regional nomenklatura:

1. Civil confiscation without a verdict: Claims of the Prosecutor General’s Office for the seizure of property are filed and satisfied within the framework of civil proceedings on the basis of “unconfirmed incomes,” long before the handing down of official verdicts in criminal cases. This allows the state promptly to intercept control over economic resources.
2. Destruction of the balance of local clans: The mechanisms of clan suretyship traditional for the North Caucasus and the hidden distribution of resources through relatives no longer protect against inspections. The security forces deliberately strike at the family ties of officials, seizing property from brothers, children and trusted persons.
3. The mobilisational character of justice: The assets seized from officials are immediately transferred to Rosimushchestvo and put up for auction. In conditions of increased load on the federal and regional budgets, the mass taking of property from the corrupted nomenklatura has become for the state a legal way of mobilising and redistributing internal financial resources.

The human rights sector notes that although the fight against corruption is a legitimate demand of society, the use of the courts for the rapid, conveyor deprivation of the right of ownership without observance of strict standards of proof, often in closed processes, creates dangerous precedents and finally destroys the remnants of independent justice, turning the courts into executive bodies of the fiscal and forcible policy of the centre.

At the same time, in September 2026 it became known that two residents of the republic will not return to Karachay-Cherkessia from Ukraine: Zurab Kakhonov from Cherkessk and Marat Dzhukaev from the Karachay District (from Kumysh). Thus, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion the authorities have publicly named the names of at least 206 combatants from Karachay-Cherkessia killed in it.

Conclusions

A human rights analysis of the documented incidents, court processes and law-enforcement practice in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic for the reporting period makes it possible to record the systemic degradation of legal institutions. In the region a stable vector has been formed towards the suppression of basic civil freedoms, the legitimation of prison arbitrariness and the demonstrative taking of property. The coordinated actions of the security agencies, the prosecutor’s office and the courts of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic have revealed the following key human rights deviations: the eradication of political pluralism and independent candidacy, the expansion of repressive pressure on minors, the fabrication of cases of a terrorist orientation and the abuse of the Interpol system, the crisis of the penitentiary system and the use of a “medical blockade,” deprivatisation and the mobilisational character of justice against the background of the SMO.

In September 2026 the law-enforcement and judicial bodies of Karachay-Cherkessia completely refused to perform rights-restoring and human rights functions, acting exclusively in the role of legitimators of the punitive and confiscatory initiatives of the executive power. The situation in the republic requires the emergency strengthening of independent advocacy control, the conduct of inspections by the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation on the facts of violations of the rights of minors and the failure to provide medical assistance in pre-trial detention centres, as well as the bringing of the recorded precedents to the level of international human rights institutions.

Khava Beshtoeva