Having Elected Republic Leaders More Important than Land to Ingush Opposition, Khazbiyev Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, August 3 – Magomed Khazbiyev, the Ingush opposition leader recently released from prison, says that his nation, the question of republic borders, which triggered the demonstrations against Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, is “secondary.” What matters more is having a directly elected republic head and new elections for the republic parliament.

            The opposition figure says that he has not had any dealings with the newly appointed republic head, Makhmut-Ali Kalimatov but of one thing he is certain: “if he continues the course of the previous powers, he will leave with the curse of the people just as they did” (kavkazr.com/a/poka-u-menya-net-chetkogo-mneniya-o-granitse-s-chechnej/30089186.html).

                Asked about his experiences in detention, Khazbiyev says that “prisons are real concentration camps but that one must pass through such tests in a worthy manner.” He adds that conditions and guards in Ingush facilities were far worse than those in other North Caucasus republics and elsewhere in the Russian Federation.

            Meanwhile, opposition activists in Ingushetia have used Facebook and Instagram to begin a program to collect and send 30 kilograms of food and other supplies to the 32 Ingush opposition figures who remain behind bars in Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia and Ingushetia (zamanho.com/?p=11359).

                This effort not only provides real assistance to those in jail but provides a focus for the continuing mobilization of the population against the repressive policies of the regime.