Caucasian, Nikolai Yuryevich

Nikolai Yuryevich Kavkazsky was born on October 16, 1986 in Moscow .

In 2001 he graduated from the music school. Prokofiev in the class of cello . ^[four]

In 2008, he graduated from the Institute of World Economy and Informatization with a degree in law .

Since 2006, he participated in opposition campaigns " March of the Dissent ." He is one of the organizers of the campaign in defense of the rights of LGBT people, women, persons with disabilities and migrants - the “ March of Equality ”.

In 2007, he joined the Yabloko party. In 2008, he gained about 20% of the vote in the election of the chairman of the Moscow Apple. ^[5]

From 2008 to the present, it has been a member of the Social Democratic group Left Socialist Action .

In 2009–2010, he was a member of the control and audit commission of the Moscow Youth Yabloko.

In 2009–2010, he was a member of the territorial election commission with the casting vote of the Alekseevsky district of Moscow from the Yabloko party.

March 10, 2010 signed the appeal of the Russian opposition " Putin must leave ."

From 2010 to the present, she has been a member of the Civil Law Committee.

From 2010 to 2011, from 2017 - member of the regional council of the Moscow Youth Yabloko.

In 2011 - candidate for deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the VI convocation .

In 2011-2012 - Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Youth Yabloko.

In 2012, he left Yabloko, as he planned to take part in the creation of the united left party, but in 2013 decided to return to Yabloko. Grigory Yavlinsky called Nikolai’s entry into the Yabloko party “a very important event in the life of our party.” ^[6]

He is a member of the youth, gender, and social democratic factions of the Yabloko party. ^{[7] [8]}

In 2014–2015, from December 30, 2016 to December 28, 2017, he was a member of the board of the IJGO “Committee for Civil Rights” ^[9] .

From 2014 to 2018, he was a member of the regional council of the Moscow branch of the Yabloko party.

From 2015 to 2017, he headed the Moscow Youth Yabloko . ^{[10] [11]}

In 2016, the Moscow Conference elected a delegate to the XIX Congress of the YABLOKO party, which was held on July 1,2 and 3 in Moscow. In his speech at the congress, Nikolai proposed to include in the party’s program the need for transition to progressive taxation, to make the program more favorable for migrants, and to include clauses on supporting LGBT rights. Kavkazsky also spoke about the problem of persecuting Internet users for political activity and suggested fighting against such repressive practices. ^[12]

At this congress, the Caucasian was nominated as a candidate for deputy of the State Duma of the 7th convocation (the third on the federal list of Yabloko in the south of Moscow). During the campaign against the Caucasus, black PR was actively used ^[13] . As a result of the vote, 71,822 voters (more than 8%) voted for the Yabloko list in southern Moscow ^[14] .

On June 21, 2017, at the bureau of the Yabloko party, he opposed the nomination of Yevgeny Roizman, mayor of the city of Yekaterinburg, as governor. Caucasian substantiated his position by the fact that Roizman’s political positions do not meet the criteria of the party’s “Memorandum of Political Alternative” ^[15] .

In 2018, he was elected Chairman of the Moscow organization of the Gender Faction of the Yabloko Party ^[16] and Deputy Chairman of the Faction ^[17] .

May 19, 2019, on World AIDS Day, took part in a picket for HIV prevention, holding a rainbow flag. ^[eighteen]

Nikolai is published in Novaya Gazeta, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, the newspaper Public Resonance, and the journal Democracy and Socialism. He has a blog on the sites of Radio Liberty and Echo of Moscow .

Swamp business

He took part in the “March of Millions” on May 6, 2012, for which he was charged under “Part 2 of Article 212 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation -“ participation in mass riots ”. According to the prosecution, the Caucasian officer hit a police officer during the riots on Bolotnaya Square . Independent investigations, on the other hand, do not confirm this fact; in particular, it is alleged that he was in fact defending himself with a baton ^[19]

On June 25, Nikolai was detained; on June 26, 2012, he was arrested by the Basmanny court. The arrest was repeatedly extended. The defense of the Caucasus has repeatedly appealed against the detention of a human rights activist. Deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Dmitry Gudkov and Ilya Ponomarev gave personal guarantees for Nikolai Kavkazsky. ^[20] On August 2, 2013, on the complaint of the human rights ombudsman, because of the unreasonableness of the extensions of the arrests, the Presidium of the Moscow City Court canceled all extensions of detention, replacing the Caucasian restraint with house arrest ^{[21] [22]} . Together, the Caucasus was under arrest for almost a year and a half.

On June 26, 2013, Nikolai Kavkazsky challenged Judge Natalya Nikishina, who led the trial in the Bolotnaya case. According to Kavkazsky, the judge was not objective and impartial, but, on the contrary, was interested in the outcome of the case, on the favorable side of the prosecution. ^{[23] [24] The} judge personally examined the application for his challenge and rejected it. ^[25]

In 2013, Nezavisimaya Gazeta published an article transmitted by Kavkazsky through a lawyer in which he talked about what human rights violations are happening in pre-trial detention centers ^[26] . This was also reported in Novaya Gazeta ^[27] and a number of other media.

After the arrest, in August 2012, a press conference was held on Nikolai Kavkazsky, it was attended by representatives of the youth Yabloko, the movement For Human Rights, the Committee for the Workers International, the Rainbow Association, the Committee for Civil Rights and the Union of Labor Poor. ^{[28] [29]} In September 2012, the Bureau of the Yabloko party issued a statement demanding the release of the Caucasus. ^[30] In December 2012, the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights addressed the leadership of the Investigative Committee of Russia with a request to change the measure of restraint for the Caucasus, but the Investigative Committee refused to apply a more lenient preventive measure to it than detention. ^[31]

On April 18, 2013, events in support of Nikolai Kavkazsky were held in St. Petersburg, Barnaul and Moscow as part of the One Day - One Name campaign. ^[32] In 2012-2013, many thousands of opposition demonstrations took place in Moscow, the participants of which demanded the release of prisoners on May 6. ^[33]

On October 3, 2013, Nikolai Kavkazsky was recognized by the international human rights organization Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience along with a number of other persons involved in the Swamp business. ^[34] Nikolai Kavkazsky, Alexei Polikhovich, and Denis Lutskevich refused to recognize themselves as prisoners of conscience until they were recognized by all persons involved in the swamp business. ^{[35] [36]}

On December 19, 2013, the Caucasian was amnestied and the criminal prosecution was terminated against him. Caucasian told the court that he agrees to amnesty, but does not admit guilt.

The defense of Nikolai Kavkazsky appealed against his detention in a pre-trial detention center and under house arrest in the European Court of Human Rights . ^[37]

In the “swamp case” of Nikolai Kavkazsky, advocates Vadim Klyuvgant , Sergey Minenkov and Dmitry Ayvazyan defended.

Attacks

Caucasian has been repeatedly attacked for political reasons.

On May 31, 2014, Nikolai and other participants in the Rainbow Rally were attacked near the Oktyabrskaya metro station. In the Caucasus they sprayed a stream of gas and hit on the leg. ^[38]

On October 15, 2014, Nikolai was attacked during a solo picket near the embassy of Kyrgyzstan. ^[39]

In September 2015, the Caucasian was beaten when he campaigned as a candidate for municipal deputies. ^[40]

Elections to the Coordination Council of the Russian Opposition

In 2012, the Caucasian nominated in the CSR from the left curia and scored 8455 votes. ^[41] He was a member of the New Left and For Unity of All Workers election blocs. ^[42]

Elections to the Moscow City Duma of the VI convocation

Nikolai participated in the elections as a candidate from the Yabloko party to the Moscow City Duma of the VI convocation in 45 constituencies (Basmanny, Meshchansky Krasnoselsky and Sokolniki districts). According to official voting results, 12.78% of voters voted for the Caucasian. Kavkazsky took third place among seven registered candidates in the 45th constituency, while overtaking candidates from the Liberal Democratic Party and Just Russia. During the campaign against opposition candidates, administrative resources were actively used. ^{[43] [44]} During the election campaign, Kavkazsky proposed to his main opponent the rector of the Higher School of Economics , supported by the United Russia party, Yaroslav Kuzminov to meet at the debate, Kuzminov accepted Nikolai’s proposal. The debate took place at the headquarters of the For Moscow coalition. ^[45] During the election campaign, Kavkazsky declared the impossibility of cooperation both with Navalny (due to his nationalist convictions) and with the authorities. ^[46] During the election, the opposition coalition "For Moscow" considered the possibility of supporting both Nikolai Kavkazsky and Yaroslav Kuzminov. ^[47] As a result, the coalition did not decide on the support of the candidate in the 45th constituency. ^[48]

Elections to the Moscow City Duma of the VII convocation

Kavkazsky announced his desire to participate in the elections to the Moscow parliament in 2019. ^{[49] [50]}

Participation in municipal elections

In 2015, Nikolai Kavkazsky participated in the by-elections of the Council of Deputies of the Municipal District of Severnoye Medvedkovo ^[51]. He took 5th place with 261 votes (14.61%). ^[52]

In 2017, Kavkazsky participated in the elections to the council of deputies of the Basmanny district. According to the election results, Nikolai took 6th place, gaining 24.89% (715) of the vote. Before the victory, he lacked 31 votes. ^[53]

Nicholas of the Caucasus adheres to the left social-democratic views, opposes Stalinism ^[54] . He believes that there was no socialism in the USSR, but state capitalism ^[55] . On migration issues, he takes the position that “illegal people do not exist” ^[56] . He is an opponent of the war in Ukraine ^[57] .

Married to Irina Nikolaevna Zabelina (born 1993), writer and feminist ^[58] .

• - the official website of Nikolai Yuryevich Kavkazsky
• Page about Nikolai Kavkazsky on Rosuznik
• Nikolai Kavkazsky on the site of the project "Swamp business"
• What to do with prisons? - article by Nikolay Kavkazsky