The person accused of involvement with “At-Takfir wal-Hijra” has been held in a punishment cell at the Nalchik pre-trial detention centre since July.

Rustam Kurmanov, a resident of Kabardino-Balkaria, has been held in solitary confinement at Nalchik SIZO-1 since early July, his wife Asiyat Gaboyeva told OVD-Info.

“Since the day of his arrest, my husband has been held in solitary confinement under harsh conditions. This could seriously affect his physical and mental health. The reasons for imposing this strict measure on him have not been explained to us,” she said.

His wife insists that he has committed no violations.

Kurmanov was detained on 10 July in the village of Novaya Balkaria, a rural locality in Kabardino-Balkaria in the North Caucasus region of Russia. He was charged with participation in an extremist organisation (part 2 of article 282.2 of the Criminal Code). Gaboyeva calls the charge brought against her husband unfounded and maintains his innocence.

Gaboyeva believes that placing her husband in solitary confinement has been used as a means of pressuring him to obtain testimony that investigators want.

The man has a nine-month-old child. Previously, Kurmanov worked in Moscow as an individual entrepreneur, and in the summer of 2022, he returned to Novaya Balkaria to care for his elderly parents and began working in agriculture—breeding and selling cattle and sheep, and making hay.

13 January 2026 On 25 December, Kurmanov was transferred from solitary confinement to a shared cell. His wife told this to Caucasian Knot.

• In 2010, the Supreme Court of Russia recognised “At-Takfir wal-Hijra” as an extremist organisation.
• Some researchers of extremist movements doubt the existence of this organisation. Human rights defender and researcher Vitaly Ponomaryov has noted that there is no convincing evidence confirming the existence of “At-Takfir wal-Hijra” in Russia or in other countries: “In the known criminal cases in Russia, there are no covert audio or video recordings in which this name appears. Nowhere is it indicated that the organisation has a membership, an entry procedure, a clear hierarchy or a leader.”
• According to Ponomaryov, the name of the organisation was invented by Egyptian media, where it first appeared.