Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Ingush National Unity Committee Calls for Resumption of Activism to Defend Ingush People and Ingush Statehood


Paul Goble

            Staunton, December 16 – The Ingush National Unity Committee, set up in October 2018 to coordinate civil society is calling on to Ingush civil society to use “all legal means to achieve the preservation and restoration of the territorial integrity of our republic” in accordance with the republic Constitution and the Russian law on the rehabilitation of repressed peoples.

            Noting that “the majority of participants in the INUC are under detention or forced to hide from persecution,” the group declares that its opportunities for taking action on its own are “extremely limited” (fortanga.org/2019/12/zayavlenie-ingushskogo-komiteta-natsionalnogo-edinstva-2/).

            But the INUC appeal suggests that “this doesn’t mean that the Ingush people agrees with the arbitrariness applied to civic activists and is ceasing to defend its interests.”  Many Ingush will likely read this declaration as a call for new demonstrations first and foremost at court hearings of those now in detention center.

            Meanwhile, courts in Stavropol Kray extended the detention of two Ingush activists, Khasan Zayzikov to March 2020 and Rashid Aushev to February 2020 (zamanho.com/?p=16034, kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/343593/ and kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/343595/).

            And the same courts sentenced a third Ingush activist Zelimkhan Tomov to 17 months behind bars for his role in the protests. Taking into account time served in detention, he will be released on December 25 (zamanho.com/?p=16030, kavkazr.com/a/30328366.html, kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/343593/ and kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/343593/).

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