Russian Appeals Court Rejects Sautiyeva’s Appeal Against Extension of Her Detention

Paul Goble

            Staunton, March 25 – The Stavropol Kray court rejected an appeal by Zarifa Sautiyeva, an Ingush activist who has been under detention since last July, to be released to house arrest among other reasons because of dangers from the spread of the coronavirus. Despite the fact that this court closed its session because of the pandemic, it refused her appeal.

            The only female Ingush activist in detention, who has been identified by Memorial as a political prisoner and whose arrest has sparked international protests, will thus remain behind bars until at least June 11. Her supporters have filed additional appeals in Russia and at Strasbourg (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/347528/).

            Two cases of the virus have been identified in Stavropol, and many fear the pandemic will spread even faster in detention facilities than in the general population (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/346532/). Three other Ingush protest leaders, Akhmed Barakhoyev, Musa Malsagov and Barakh Chemurziyev, have made similar appeals but also without success (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/347514/ and kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/347501/).

            Meanwhile, for what his relatives say is the 16^th or 17^th time “no less,” siloviki searched the home of Akhmed Pogorov, a former interior minister of Ingushetia who became one of the leaders of the protest movement and who eluded arrest even while continuing to issue video appeals (fortanga.org/2020/03/my-uzhe-so-scheta-sbilis-v-kotoryj-raz-oni-priezzhayut-u-pogorovyh-snova-obysk/).