A week before the day of mourning on May 21, law enforcement agencies are handing out mass warnings about the inadmissibility of participating in the procession
To the Head of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic K.V. KOKOV
Dear Kazbek Valeryevich! We, the undersigned, appeal to you as the guarantor of the constitutional rights of the peoples of Kabardino-Balkaria. The situation surrounding the Day of Remembrance of the Adygs (Circassians) — victims of the Russian-Caucasian War, annually observed on May 21, has reached a critical point. The persecution and pressure on citizens for their intention to honor the memory of their ancestors have acquired a systemic, planned, and ongoing character.
A week before the mourning date, citizens began to be summoned to police departments to be handed “warnings” about the inadmissibility of breaking the law when participating in mass events, which are completely unjustified and carry an exclusively intimidating, preventive character. Even now, there is reliable information about the distribution of warnings to dozens of residents of the republic by the law enforcement agencies of the KBR. However, over the many years of holding the mourning processions on May 21, not a single case of disorder or other unlawful acts has ever been recorded. The participants have never disturbed public order or engaged in conflicts with law enforcement officers. The procession has always been exclusively peaceful and organized. This is a fact that has been repeatedly acknowledged even by the police officers themselves who were present at the events. Consequently, any references to a “threat to public safety” are nothing more than a fiction and a pretext for bans.
Kazbek Valeryevich, when the mourning procession was not held in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the public perceived this situation with complete understanding, as the restrictions were objective and applied to all mass events without exception. No one questioned the necessity of the prohibitive measures. But after life returned to normal, all restrictions were lifted, except for the ban on the mourning procession on May 21, thereby cementing the practice of deliberately suppressing the citizens’ right to memory. Starting from that time, the city authorities of Nalchik and republican officials, refusing to approve the May 21 procession, began to present absolutely far-fetched and politically biased arguments, citing the events in Ukraine.
Then, in 2022, at a meeting with representatives of the national movement, the head of the republic’s administration, Mukhammed Kodzokov, stated literally the following: “Holding this procession is undesirable in connection with the events in Ukraine, because we must demonstrate absolute solidarity.” A similar position was expressed by the president of the International Circassian Association, Khauti Sokhrokov, who announced the decision not to hold the procession due to the events in Ukraine.
However, this position has no foundation. The mourning procession on May 21 is not a political action, nor a demonstration of loyalty or disloyalty to anyone. It is worth recalling that this day was declared a non-working day by the Supreme Soviet of the KBSSR in 1992 specifically as a day of remembrance — without any connection to the current political conjuncture. Yet, instead of supporting the mourning event and taking the initiative in holding it in the established traditional order, the republican authorities are actually condoning the unlawful actions of the law enforcement agencies.
In this context, the very fact of double standards on the part of the authorities is particularly revealing and egregious, when at the same time in Nalchik other mass events (including entertainment ones) are held without any obstacles, without any references to the “events in Ukraine” or the “need to demonstrate solidarity.”
A logical and non-rhetorical question arises: why are festive processions possible, but the mourning procession on May 21 is not?
If the authorities are genuinely concerned about the need to “demonstrate solidarity” and take the foreign policy context into account, then why isn’t this context applied to all public events without exception?
The answer is obvious: the day of mourning on May 21 has become an “undesirable” date for the local authorities, which they intend to eradicate using any pretext. This speaks to a selective, politically motivated approach to the constitutional rights of citizens, which is unacceptable.
We are forced to state that such actions by law enforcement agencies are destabilizing the situation in the republic, rather than stabilizing it. Instead of relieving tension, law enforcement agencies are creating more of it.
There is a deliberate, calculating attempt to delegitimize the Day of Mourning itself and criminalize any participation in it, threatening the addressees of the “Warnings” with administrative and criminal measures.
As we remember, a ban was first imposed on the equestrian procession, then on the procession on foot along the main street of Nalchik. The final step remains — to forbid gathering at the “Tree of Life”, where the mourning events traditionally conclude.
The Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria in October 2025 upheld the decision of the Nalchik City Court, which found the republican authorities’ refusal to approve the mass procession on the Day of Remembrance of the Adygs to be lawful and justified. This court decision practically legitimized the long-standing practice of bans, despite the fact that in 2010 the Nalchik prosecutor’s office recognized the local administration’s refusal to approve the procession as unlawful.
As you are aware, May 21 mourning events are held all over the world where the large Adyghe (Circassian) diaspora lives — in Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Germany, the USA, France, Israel, and other countries. But no one there creates obstacles for people who want to honor the memory of the victims of the Caucasian War on this day. People are free to gather and hold processions. And only in the historical homeland of the Adygs, in Nalchik, does the same thing happen every year: bans, warnings, detentions, and arrests.
In recent years, a solid tradition has formed: together with the Adyghe people, hundreds of representatives of neighboring republics come to support on May 21: Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan, North Ossetia, for which we are sincerely grateful to them. This is our shared pain. The Caucasian War is a tragedy for all the peoples of the Caucasus, and their participation in the mourning event is evidence of unity, which law enforcement agencies are so meticulously fighting against.
The multimillion Adyghe diaspora is closely monitoring all events in their historical homeland and is very pained by this attitude toward the memory of their ancestors on the part of the authorities of Kabardino-Balkaria.
Kazbek Valeryevich, over these years we have repeatedly appealed to you regarding the above-mentioned problems, but unfortunately, we have not noticed any decisive actions from the republic’s leadership to protect the rights of citizens. On the contrary, coercive measures are becoming stricter every year: more and more participants in commemorative events are being detained and brought to administrative responsibility. A vivid example is the events of last year, when eight participants in the mourning procession in Nalchik were detained and, by court decision, received administrative arrest for a period of three to ten days.
Kazbek Valeryevich, we expect a more decisive stance from you, because its absence will be interpreted in society in only one way — as an inability or unwillingness to protect the people’s right to preserve their historical memory.
In view of the above, we strongly urge you to intervene in the situation, counteract the illegal persecution of citizens for their intention to participate in the mourning events of May 21 and the practice of knowingly unfounded “warnings”, as well as to ensure the protection and realization of the constitutional right of the republic’s residents to a peaceful procession along the main street of Nalchik — just as it has happened all these years, since the day the republic established the Day of Remembrance of the Adygs (Circassians).
Sincerely:
Marx SHAKHMURZOV — Chairman of the Kabardino-Balkarian branch of the “Russian Association of Victims of Political Repressions”
Valery KHATAZHUKOV — Chairman of the Kabardino-Balkarian Regional Human Rights Center
Muzarib BZHAKHOV — Honored Architect of the KBR
Ismel MESHEV — public figure
Zaurbek KOZHEV — Candidate of Historical Sciences
Azamat SHORMANOV — public figure
Mukhamed BERKHAMOV — public figure
Alik SHASHEV — public figure
May 16, 2026