Russian Courts Reject Appeals by Ingush Activists Sautiyeva, Mamilov and Maysigov

Paul Goble

            Staunton, October 9 – The Stavropol Kray court rejected an appeal by Zarifa Sautiyeva, an activist and the only Ingush woman under arrest as a result of the protests, to overturn a lower court decision to extend her detention until December 11. Some had hoped she might be released subject to home detention (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/341032/ and   zamanho.com/?p=13567).

            Meanwhile, and in yet another sign that these nominally judicial actions are driven by political decisions rather than legal considerations, a court in Moscow refused to release Zakry Mamilov, the son of an Ingush parliamentarian, whose detention had been extended to December 24 (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/340988/).

            And the Supreme Court of Ingushetia refused to release Fortanga journalist Rashid Maysigov whose detention had been extended to November 12 by a lower court.  Maysiga is charged with possession of drugs and illegal propaganda but his supporters say these were planted on him (kavkazr.com/a/moj-syn-bolshoj-patriot-ingushetii-i-rossii/30207818.html).

            As with Mamilov, the authorities’ actions appear to be less about any actions by the two who are being investigated for criminal activity than a way to get at others the powers that be would like to bring to heel or silence. Mamilov is the son of a dissident member of the Ingush Popular Assembly. Maysigov is a colleague of Fortanga head Izabella Yevloyeva.

            She says that the FSB interrogation of Maysigov, a copy of which she has, shows that his jailors were more interested in her than in him.  And she says that Maysigov had told her in advance that he had been threatened with having drugs planted in his apartment if he continued to work with her.

            He took that threat seriously, Yevloyeva continues, and stopped working at Fortanga until Yunus-Bek Yevkurov left office. Then, assuming he would be safe, he returned to work with the subsequent unfortunate outcome. She says she very much regrets that one of her colleagues has become the victim of “the information war” Magas has launched against her.