Tuesday, February 11, 2020

After Moscow Protests, Powers Sometimes Release the Victims; after Ingush Ones, They Release the Victimizers and Arrest More Victims


Paul Goble

            Staunton, February 4 – Instead of releasing those detained in Ingush protests as has sometimes happened in Moscow, the powers that be in Magas not only extend the detention of those behind bars but even add to their charges while releasing those who victimized them and arresting more despite promise by the republic head of a better outcome, Elbert Sagov says.

            In a commentary for Portal Six entitled “In Moscow, Golunov; but with Us, Khamkhoyev,” the authorities seem committed to doing everything they can to show that those who protest will always be incarcerated while those among the siloviki who repress them can depend on being let free (6portal.ru/posts/в-москве-голунов-а-у-нас-хамхоев/#more-995).

            Thus, this week, a Russian court released Timur Khamkhoyev, the former head of the Center for Countering Extremism in Ingushetia who was convicted of beating detainees (zamanho.com/?p=16505), even as judges in the North Caucasus refused to release protesters now in detention, instead adding to their numbers and charges (6portal.ru/posts/хорошая-мина-добрая-улыбка-при-плохой/#more-1001).

            And those events came even as the European Court for Human Rights ruled in favor of the protesters who had been imprisoned and beaten (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/345509/) and republic head Makhmud-Ali Kalimatov attracted attention for a press conference at which he appeared to be more supportive of the rights of the protester detainees.

            Meanwhile, in yet another courtroom, Amirkhan Bekov, a protester now under detention, refused to give testimony or otherwise take part in the hearings. He was arrested yesterday, along with at least six others, following raids in villages of Ingushetia and Ingush areas of North Ossetia (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/345513/).

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