Pressure Mounts on Kalimatov to Re-Appoint Three Constitutional Court Judges

Paul Goble

            Staunton, January 22 – The Coordinating Council of the Non-Governmental Organizations of Ingushetia has added its voice to that of deputies of the republic’s Popular Assembly, the Council of Teips, the republic’s lawyers, and independent Ingush activists on Makhmud-Ali Kalimatov to re-appoint the members of the republic Constitutional Court.

            The court has five members, but there are two vacancies. The three serving members of the court have been on that bench since the republic Constitutional Court was created in 2009.  They are widely respected for their expertise and independence, and that is why there is so much support for their being reappointed.

            Kalimatov can change the direction of the court by filling the two vacancies with his own people, but if he chooses not to appoint the three currently serving members of that body, he will be thumbing his nose at almost the entire population of Ingushetia and will likely face a new outburst of protests (kavkaz-uzel.eu/blogs/342/posts/41423).

            Meanwhile, today, there were four other political moves. First, Moscow named the younger brother of Ibragim Eldzharkiyev, who was killed in Moscow last year, to take his relative’s place as head of the Interior Ministry’s Center for Countering Extremism in Ingushetia, an indication of how difficult it is to appoint new people in a society deeply divided by clans (zamanho.com/?p=16388).

            Second, Pyatimat Yusupov has filed a suit against that Center for 20 million rubles (300,000 US dollars) for the beating to death of her brother by officers last year. Her mother already was awarded 1.5 million rubles (25,000 US dollars) last fall (doshdu.com/sestra-ubitogo-v-cpje-mvd-ingushetii-magomeda-dalieva-potrebovala-kompensacii/).

            Third, republic head Kalimatov has criticized officials for failing to have provided housing for Ingush who fled from neighboring republics in the 1990s and ordered them to come up with a response and a plan by the end of February (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/344962/).

            And fourth, even though the population of Ingushetia continues to grow – there were 12.2 percent more births than deaths there last year – the fact that that number is down from 17.2 percent in 2014 means that officials want to use Putin’s maternal capital program to boost the growth rate in that Muslim republic (serdalo.ru/skolko-nas-i-skolko-eshhe-buduet/).