Ingushetia’s Supreme Court Won ‘t Consider Call to Ban Council of Teips Until Earlier Appeals Exhausted

Paul Goble

            Staunton, November 8 – The Supreme Court of Ingushetia says it will not take up the request of the justice ministry that the Council of Teips be banned until two earlier appeals involving that organization are resolved. That allows the Council to continue to function at least for the present (memohrc.org/ru/news_old/verhovnyy-sud-ingushetii-priostanovil-rassmotrenie-iska-regionalnogo-minyusta-o-likvidacii and kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/342150/).

            Meanwhile, although most of the justice ministry’s complaints involve procedural issues, the authorities are playing up one issue as part of their effort to discredit the Council. On its coat of arms, the Council has a small swastika, a national symbol but one the authorities insist cannot be used because of its Nazi links (sova-center.ru/misuse/news/persecution/2019/11/d41684/).

            Meanwhile, Issa Kostoyev, a legal advisor to Makhmud-Ali Kalimatov says that the republic head has “more than once” inquired after the way in which Ingush activists under arrest for their roles in the protests last March are being treated (interfax-russia.ru/South/news.asp?id=1080132&sec=1671).

            Also today, in lockstep with other courts in the region, the Magas district court extended the detention of activist Rashid Maysigov, a former Fortanga journalist,  until January 7, 2020 (fortanga.org/2019/11/zhurnalistu-nashego-izdaniya-prodlili-srok-soderzhaniya-pod-strazhej-do-7-yanvarya-2020-goda/).