Russian Appeals Court Toughens Sentences of Two Ingush Protesters

Paul Goble

            Staunton, April 22 – A Russian appeals court in Stavropol accepted prosecutors’ arguments that two Ingush protesters, Bagaudin Myakiyev and Ruslan Dzeytov, had acted on the basis of political motives in striking police during the March 2019 demonstration and transferred both to stricter prison colonies to serve their sentences.

            In addition, the court extended Myakiyev’s sentence by a month. He may face additional punishment because he left the court before police could take him away after court officials told his lawyer that he was free to go and would be picked up at his residence. But then he was arrested on the way to his home.

            (On these two cases, see capost.media/news/politika/in-the-stavropol-territory-court-has-toughened-punishment-to-the-defendant-in-the-ingush-case/,  kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/348647/,  

fortanga.org/2020/04/bagaudin-myakiev-zaderzhan-na-chermenskom-postu-po-obvineniyu-v-pobege-iz-zala-suda/ and kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/348676/.)

            Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus infections and deaths in Ingushetia continue to rise, with medical personnel saying they do not have sufficient supplies to protect themselves as they treat those with the disease and questions being raised about Magas’ much looser approach to self-isolation than in neighboring Chechnya (capost.media/news/mainhotnews/in-ingushetia-the-number-of-people-infected-with-coronavirus-has-reached-397-people/).

            And a new analysis shows that official claims that unemployment in the republic had fallen from 43.7 percent in 2013 to only 26 percent now, a figure few Ingush believe to be true, is not confirmed by official reports on tax payments for those who have jobs there. The real level of unemployment is thus much higher (kavkaz-uzel.eu/blogs/342/posts/42862).