Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Despite ‘Liquidation,’ Ingush Muslim Center Not Only Operates but Demands Release of Prisoners


Paul Goble

            Staunton, October 8 – Despite a court ruling liquidating the Spiritual Center of Muslims of Ingushetia, that MSD continues to function, plans to appeal, and has now issued an appeal to the regime to release all political prisoners (doshdu.com/muftijat-ingushetii-prizval-otpustit-arestovannyh-politaktivistov/ and zamanho.com/?p=13510).

            Meanwhile, lawyers for Maysigov Rashid, the Fortanga journalist whom officials have charged with drug possession will now face trial, his lawyer says. The investigation has been completed but no date for the first hearing of his case has been set (fortanga.org/2019/10/delo-zhurnalista-fortangaorg-rashida-majsigova-peredano-v-sud/).

            Sultan Kodzoyev, one of his colleagues, says that “the sad picture of the fate of regional journalists arrested for their professional activities … leaves few hopes for justice. The only way remaining to defend them from arbitrariness is the support of civil society.” That can sometimes but not always make the difference.

            Yet another case of such malfeasance has surfaced at the detention center in Nalchik, the capital of Kabardino-Balkaria where many Ingush activists are being held. There, jail officials blocked lawyers for the defendants from seeing their clients, saying they had a list of which lawyers were supposed to be allowed and which not (mbk-news.appspot.com/news/ne-pustili-advokatov/).

And in yet another indication that times are tough in Ingushetia beyond just the protests and their suppression, deputy prime minister Mikhail Ilezov said that the authorities would like to turn off most street lights at night in the Ingush capital to save the republic government money (akcent.site/novosti/6107).

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