Moscow and Its Agents have Violated Ingush Constitution Ever More Often and in Ever More Serious Ways, Mutsolgov and Buzurtanov Say

Paul Goble

            Staunton, February 27 – Twenty-six years ago today, the residents of the Ingush Republic adopted a constitution which they intended to be the framework for the future development of their republic and nation. But since then, Moscow and its agents have violated its provisions ever more often and in ever more serious ways, two Ingush commentators say on this anniversary.

            Magomed Mutsolgov, a human rights activist and the leader of the Ingush section of the Yabloko Party, says efforts by Moscow and its agents in Magas to undermine the republic constitution began more than a decade ago, when officials discovered they could ignore the basic law even more easily than their Soviet predecessors had (kavkaz-uzel.eu/blogs/342/posts/41943).

            The worst case of this violation came at the end of 2018 when Yunus-Bek Yevkurov gave away 10 percent of the republic to Chechnya, corruptly forced the republic parliament to approve it, and received Moscow’s backing in overruling the Ingush Constitutional Court which had correctly approved the basic law.

            But tragically, that action has opened the way for others. On Portal Six, commentator Akhmed Buzurtanov says that among the worst developments since the end of 2018 have been the transfer of detentions and trials of protesters out of the republic to Kabardino-Balkaria and then Stavropol despite constitutional bans (6portal.ru/posts/политико-правовые-аспекты-протестов/).

                Not only are such shifts a violation of the Ingush Constitution, Buuzurtanov says, they are an indication of the contempt with which the powers that be in Moscow and Magas hold both the Ingush population and the institutions the Ingush have created on the basis of their constitution to govern their lives.

            The Ingush people, both suggest, must continue their struggle not only against individual violations of their rights but also for the restoration of a constitutional order in their republic, something that can’t happen if officials are free to ignore or amend the basic law whenever it suits their purposes.