Based on the materials from the Memorial Human Rights Centre, 22.07.2023

Photo: The defendants of the “Ingush case” / Photo by Daria Kornilova

On 20 July, the Stavropol Regional Court in Pyatigorsk resumed the debate on the “Ingush case”. Ruslan Mutsolgov, the public defender of the convicts, the Chairman of the Ingush Yabloko, and a member of the Federal Bureau of Yabloko, spoke in the defence of the convicts.

About the “Ingush case”

On 27 March, 2019, a rally against changing the administrative border of Ingushetia with Chechnya was dispersed in Magas, the capital of Ingushetia. This gave the start of repressions against the Ingush opposition. As a result, administrative cases were opened against hundreds of participants in the public protest, and dozens of protesters faced criminal cases.

In December 2021, the Kislovodsk City Court sentenced Malsag Uzhakhov, Akhmed Barakhoyev, Zarifa Sautiyeva, Musa Malsagov, Ismail Nalgiyev, Bagautdin Khautiyev and Barakh Chemurziyev to from 7.5 to 9 years in prison. The court ruled out that they were guilty of violence to representatives of the authorities (Article 318 of the Criminal Code), creation of an extremist group (Article 282.1 of the Criminal Code) and participation in it. Malsag Uzhakhov was also convicted for creating an organisation that encourages citizens to commit illegal acts (Article 239 Part 2 of the Criminal Code), and Akhmed Barakhoyev was sentenced for participating in it (Article 239 Part 3 of the Criminal Code). The case of the eighth participant in the process, Akhmed Pogorov, was singled out into a separate proceeding.

Since January 2023, the Stavropol Regional Court in Pyatigorsk has been considering the appeal of the convicts.

The Yabloko party supported the protests in Ingushetia; Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov specially came to the Republic in March 2019 to speak at a rally in Magas. Yabloko condemned the repression of the leaders of the Ingush protest. In July 2022, the Yabloko headquarters in Moscow held an exhibition “The Ingush Case. Protest of Dignity”.

During the debate, Ruslan Mutsolgov called the verdict of the Kislovodsk City Court unlawful and unreasonable, since the court’s conclusions did not correspond to the actual circumstances of the case. The court did not provide evidence, and prosecution witnesses did not confirm either the use of violence or its organisation. The court ignored the evidence that refuted the prosecution’s arguments, while the video materials supplemented the testimony of the defendants, and did not refute them. According to Mutsolgov, the evidence, on the contrary, refuted the guilt of Khautiyev and other defendants.

Mutsolgov noted that if holding of a sanctioned rally had been a crime, then why the head of the government who had approved it was not with them in the dock?

According to Ruslan Mutsolgov, the clashes in the square were provoked by the security forces, who began beating people with batons, including the elderly. Nobody called for this. And all the protests had been absolutely peaceful up to that day.

Mutsolgov also stressed another point that the court ignored: according to the case file, the time of the criminal conspiracy to commit violence was approximately 4:40 a.m. on March 27. However, according to the testimonies of witnesses, video recordings and phone billings, it was proved that neither Khautiyev nor Zarifa Sautiyeva were on the square at that time.

Mutsolgov recalled that initially Khautiyev was accused of using violence under Article 318 Part 2 of the Criminal Code and his detention was extended on the basis of that article. There was no accusation of any organisation of violence for nine months. First, the investigation cited some evidence of the use of violence, and then they just came up with a new role and a new charge for Khautiyev, but all the evidence of the “use of violence” disappeared.

RUSLAN MUTSOLGOV

is a member of the Federal Bureau of Yabloko and

Chairman of the Yabloko branch in Ingushetia