Ingush Journalist on Whom Siloviki Planted Drugs to Remain Under House Arrest for Another Three Months

Paul Goble

            Staunton, December 26 – A Magas court has extended the house arrest of Fortanga journalist Rashid Maysigov for another three months. He had drugs planted on him after he and his news portal played a key role in documenting the protest against the Yevkurov-Kadyrov border deal (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/343980/).

            His supporters are pleased that Maysigov has been kept in house arrest rather than detained and that he remains in Ingushetia rather than being moved to a neighboring republic, but they recognize that his arrest is fraudulent as it occurred exactly at the same time as the authorities blocked the Fortanga portal. 

            Meanwhile, there were four other developments in criminal cases filed against opposition figures. First, without warning or justification, Musa Malsagov was shifted to a detention facility in Vladikavkaz where he remains under arrest for supposedly encouraging mass disorders and attacking police (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/344012/).

            Second, a witness for Zubeyr Khamkhoyev, an opposition figure who continues to insist on his innocence, said that he was fired from his government job after taking part in a protest (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/344011/). Third, Timur Oziyev was found guilty of attacking police even though he said he was trying to interpose himself between the authorities and protesters (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/344001/).

            And fourth, the wife and sisters of Magomed Ozdoyev said the authorities had refused to allow them to speak with Magomed Ozdoyev in the courtroom in Stavropol where he is being tried and to which they had travelled from Ingushetia, another display of cruelty by the powers that be in cases involving Ingush prisoners (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/343975/).