20 October 2021, 23:56
Defence of Ingush activists considers extension of their arrest illegal
A court extended the arrest of the defendants accused in the “Ingush case” by three months, although investigators did not present any real grounds for such decision, advocate Djabrail Kuriev reports.
The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that the case against seven protest leaders in Ingushetia, accused of creating an extremist community, has been considered in the Stavropol Territory since November 2020. On October 7, according to the defence and the defendants, Dmitry Kava, the former Minister of Internal Affairs of Ingushetia, gave evasive testimony to questions about extremism in the defendants’ actions, while the defendants hoped that Dmitry Kava would confirm their peaceful intentions at a rally in Magas.
The defence of the activists insisted on questioning of top-ranking law enforcers, since, according to the testimony of defence witness Akhmed Kostoev, before the rally, law enforcers requested the leaders of the Ingush protest to help ensure security at the rally. Earlier, the same information, which contradicts the prosecution’s version of the activists’ extremism, had been voiced by defendants Musa Malsagov and Barakh Chemurziev.
On March 26, 2019, Magas hosted a large-scale rally against the border agreement with Chechnya. The rally was sanctioned by the authorities, but the protesters did not leave the place for the night. On March 27, law enforcers tried to disperse them, after which clashes broke out. According to the Human Rights Centre (HRC) “Memorial”*, 37 people were convicted in the Ingush case. The HRC “Memorial”* considers all seven persons accused of creating an extremist community as political prisoners, including Akhmed Barakhoev, Musa Malsagov, Ismail Nalgiev, Zarifa Sautieva, Malsag Uzhakhov, Bagaudin Khautiev, and Barakh Chemurziev.
*The organization has been put on the register of foreign agents by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 20, 2021 at 05:30 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Alyona Sadovskaya Source: CK correspondent
