Martin Kochesoko (Kochesokov)

Activist of the Circassian national movement.

On June 7, 2019 he was detained on his way back from fishing. During a search in his car, drugs were found. The police conducted searches in the office of the Khabze organisation headed by Kochesoko. Kochesoko was taken into custody by court order. The Republican Interior Ministry disseminated information that the bags found in Kochesoko's car bore the suspect's fingerprints and traces of a narcotic substance were found in the washes from his hands, and that Kochesoko had confessed guilt. Later, the activist passed a letter from the pre-trial detention centre, in which he said that he had been forced to confess because of threats of physical violence from the officers of the Central Investigation Centre, FSIN and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. On June 25, he was transferred from the pre-trial detention centre to house arrest. On August 23, he was released on his own recognizance. On October 11, the prosecutor's office returned the case for additional investigation.

In February 2020, it became known that the prosecutor's office returned Kochesoko's case for additional investigation, but then the activist was charged again.

At the end of May 2019, Kochesoko reported a visit to his parents by a representative of the administration of the Baksan district of Kabardino-Balkaria, who passed on an advice to the Khabze leader to "reduce activity". Shortly before that, Khabze activists and participants of the Democratic Congress of Peoples of Russia from other constituent entities of the Russian Federation held an interregional round table in Nalchik dedicated to the problems of federalism in Russia. There they sharply criticized the federal authorities. Afterwards, articles appeared in the local pro-government media that Martin Kochesoko was an agent of the United States.

On March 2, 2021 he was sentenced to three years of probation.

In August 2023 Kochesoko was included in the register of "foreign agents". In June 2024, it became known that a case was opened against him for evasion of foreign agents' duties. In August, it became known that his parents' home was inspected three times within a month and a half.