The editor-in-chief of Sapa remains in custody despite the guarantees of colleagues.

The Moscow City Court rejected the appeal against the arrest of Sapa editor-in-chief Alina Dzhikaeva. Following her arrest, at least three editors-in-chief of republican publications and the head of the regional branch of the Union of Journalists of Russia vouched for her.

As reported by the Caucasian Knot, on April 16, it was reported that Moscow's Zamoskvoretsky Court had chosen a preventive measure for Sapa editor-in-chief Alina Dzhikaeva. She was remanded in custody for two months, until June 12, on charges of bribing a Makhachkala police officer. The defense appealed the arrest.

The Moscow City Court upheld the pretrial detention measure for Alina Dzhikayeva, editor-in-chief of the Telegram channel "Sapa," accused of bribing a police officer for official information, the Moscow City Court press service reported.

"The Criminal Cases Panel of the Moscow City Court upheld the ruling of the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow on the pretrial detention measure until June 12, 2026, for Alina Gulivierovna Dzhikayeva," the joint press service of the courts of general jurisdiction of the Moscow City Court reported on the Telegram channel.

Earlier, journalists from North Ossetia wrote guarantees for Dzhikaeva. The editorial board has four petitions: from Timur Kusov, chairman of the regional branch of the Union of Journalists of Russia, and from Timur Mazaev, Madina Godzhieva, and Vadim Tokhsyrov, editors-in-chief of the news outlets Irinform, Ossetia News, and OsNova, as reported by Sapa Kavkaz on April 21.

"The editorial work, built on high moral and ethical standards by Alina Dzhikaeva, has helped dozens of people. Where many journalists prefer to remain silent, she speaks out without hesitation to solve the problem," Timur Mazaev wrote, in particular.

As a reminder, on April 14, searches were conducted at the editorial office of the Sapa Telegram channel in Vladikavkaz, and employees were questioned. The Investigative Committee announced that Alina Dzhikaeva and a police officer from Makhachkala were detained on charges of giving and receiving a bribe, respectively. The police officer is also suspected of abuse of power: according to investigators, he provided Dzhikayeva with information about incidents in Dagestan and North Ossetia, along with the personal data of those involved, for money.

Alina Dzhikayeva pleaded not guilty to bribing a police officer, while police officer Shamsutdin Shamsutdinov agreed to the charges of abuse of power and bribery.

Dzhikayeva's case continues the trend of security forces fighting information leaks

There is no political motive in the Alina Dzhikayeva case case; it is an episode in the fight against information leaks from law enforcement agencies, analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" explained.

"It's hard to imagine that this "The persecution of a journalist undesirable to the authorities, because, in my opinion, he's quite a favorable journalist. And the charge itself is, let's say, unfortunately, all too typical of how the media has operated in Russia in recent years," said political scientist and journalist Ruslan Totrov. In the summer of 2025, Gleb Trifonov, editor-in-chief of the Telegram channel "Baza," and several police officers from various regions of Russia, including the Krasnodar Territory, were arrested on the same charge. Investigators stated that Trifonov had purchased intelligence from law enforcement agencies. He himself denied the accusations.

In June 2025, searches were conducted at the Yekaterinburg editorial office of the Ura.ru news agency in connection with the transfer of official Ministry of Internal Affairs information to journalists. Three journalists were questioned as part of the case of abuse of power by unidentified police officers. It was alleged that law enforcement officers found police-compiled incident reports on the journalists' computers, which they used to prepare their stories. Agency editor Denis Allayarov was later detained a second time on suspicion of bribing a police officer.