Another Ingush Activist Sentenced, Two More have Detentions Extended, and Four Appeal to European Court

Paul Goble

            Staunton, December 17 – The Ingush protest movement has been committed to staying within the law even though the authorities haven’t kept within the limits. But now, the cases officials have brought against activists are in the courts, not in Ingushetia but in Russia’s Stavropol Kray and eventually in the European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg.

            Today, a Stavropol court sentenced Zelimkhan Tomov to 17 months in a labor camp, a lighter sentence that prosecutors had sought and yet another indication that the courts may be softening the punishments in order to avoid sparking new protests (doshdu.com/vynesen-prigovor-tret-emu-obvinyaemomu-po-delu-o-mitinge-v-ingushetii/ and golosislama.com/news.php?id=37728).

            Meanwhile, another Stavropol court extended the detention of two other Ingush activists: that of Timur Oziyev and Ahmed Nalgiyev until March 6 (https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/343641/, kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/343639/ and kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/343636/). Nalgiyev faces another hearing next week.

            And the Memorial human rights organization has submitted an appeal to the European Court for Human Rights on behalf of Murat Bekov, Vakkhi Dzeytov, Rusland Dzytov, and Ilez Barahoeva, who were fined for their role in the March 2019 protests in Magas (doshdu.com/uchastniki-protestov-v-ingushetii-napravili-zhaloby-v-espch/, doshdu.com/espch-objazal-rossiju-vyplatit-kompensacii-za-pohishhennyh-silovikami-zhitelej-severnogo-kavkaza/ and doshdu.com/chetvero-zhitelej-ingushetii-pozhalovalis-v-espch-po-shtrafam-za-uchastie-v-mitinge/).