The mother of a Nalchik man convicted in the Caliphate case complained about her son's harassment in prison.

Akhmed Balkarov is subjected to religious harassment in the prison colony and has been repeatedly subjected to penalties, which is why he rarely spends time in the residential unit. His mother fears for her son's health, as he is scheduled to be sent to a psychiatric hospital more than 1,000 kilometers away, despite having no diagnosed problems.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot," on May 31, 2017, the North Caucasus District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced the defendants in the Kabardino-Balkaria caliphate case to lengthy prison terms. Oleg Miskhozhev, Akhmed Balkarov, Islam Shogenov, Ruslan Kipshiev, Kantemir Zheldashev, Artur Karov, Zaur Tekuzhev, and Ruslan Zhugov received sentences ranging from 6 to 16 years in prison. Akhmed Balkarov was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The Supreme Court of Russia upheld the sentence of natives of Kabardino-Balkaria convicted in a case of attempting to establish a caliphate with a Sharia form of government in the republic.

In [........] Kabardino-Balkaria, Irina, the mother of Akhmed Balkarov, appealed to intervene in a situation regarding the violation of her son's rights in a penal colony in the Penza region.

According to her, her son, who is serving a 15-year sentence, from the first days of his stay in the institution "became the object of systematic harassment by the administration, due to both ethnic and religious discrimination." "My son is a Muslim, and he was repeatedly forbidden to practice his religion at the facility, which led to constant conflicts with the administration. As a result of these actions, my son was repeatedly subjected to disciplinary action and was held in punishment cells (SHIZO), cell-type rooms (PKT), single cell-type rooms (EPKT), and strict conditions of detention (SUS). In fact, he was deprived of the opportunity to be in a residential unit, which significantly worsened his psychological state. In addition, visits with his son were limited and were granted extremely rarely under various pretexts," reads the statement, which was published on the center's website.

According to her, in response to requests to transfer her son to a facility located closer to her place of residence, she received only formal replies.

"On April 27, 2026, I learned that my son was going to be transferred to a psychiatric hospital located in the city of Rybinsk in the Yaroslavl region. region. It is unclear to me on what basis such a decision was made, given the existence of a similar psychiatric hospital in the Penza region. Moreover, I believe that transferring him without registration to a pretrial detention center and on an emergency basis may be aimed at worsening my son's psychological state and further destabilizing it. It is important to note that my son has not been diagnosed with mental disorders, and I do not understand on what basis the therapist referred him to a medical commission at a psychiatric hospital in another region, located 1,000 kilometers from where he is serving his sentence. In the current situation, I truly fear for my son's health and life," Balkarova said.

She asked for assistance in conducting inspections by supervisory authorities in the colony where her son is being held and for regional human rights activists, the human rights ombudsman, and members of the Public Monitoring Commission for the Penza region to participate.

The "Caucasian Knot" also wrote that Zalimkhan Tkhamokov, who died during the investigation, and who was killed during Ibrahim Gugov was also found guilty during his arrest. Most of the defendants stated that they testified to investigators under torture.