Dagestani authorities promise to control inquiry into attack on Starodubets

The beaten and kidnapped blogger Vyacheslav Starodubets has stopped his series of solo pickets in Makhachkala. According to his story, officials from the administration of the head of Dagestan promised to help in the investigation of his criminal case.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Vyacheslav Starodubets, the author of the popular page about Derbent "Pearl of the South" in the social network Facebook, the former coordinator of the project "My Derbent", and an employee of the press service of the Museum-Nature Reserve "Naryn-Kala", was beaten up by men in masks on April 5 in Derbent.

The Council for Development of Civil Society and Human Rights under the President of Russia has asked the Public Prosecutor of Dagestan to take the investigation into the attack on Starodubets under his personal control.

"During my picket, I was invited to meet officials from the office of the head of Dagestan. After I told them about the attack, they said that the head of Dagestan Ramazan Abdulatipov would take the case under his personal control. If there are no results again, I'll repeat my protest action," said Starodubets.

According to his story, during his picket he expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that investigators excluded from his case Article 126 of the Russian Criminal Code (kidnapping), and left only Article 111 (intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm).

The Investigating Department for Dagestan of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) has explained that according to a note to Article 126, a person who has voluntarily releases the kidnapped person is exempted from criminal liability.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.