Paul
Goble
Staunton, December 8 – Lawyers for
the 35 Ingush who have been charged or are being investigated for crimes arising
from the March 26-27 protests say that new republic head Makhmud-Ali Kalimatov
has not done anything to defend the rights of the citizens of his republics but
concede that Moscow may not be allowing him to.
Under Russian law, the head of a
republic is not allowed to interfere with or put pressure on the law enforcement
agencies, but he is responsible for ensuring that the constitutional rights of
his people are respected. This, lawyers and activists say, Kalimatov has not
done (capost.media/special/obzory/ingushskoe_delo_obvineniya_pod_kopirku/).
At present, 33 Ingush are in
detention, two are on provisional release, and trial dates have been set for
four. All the trials scheduled are to take place outside of the republic, a
violation in and of itself of the constitutional rights of the Ingush. Moscow
has insisted, and activists say Kalimatov has not resisted.
Kalimatov has also come under
criticism for the inability of his
regime to manage the budget and ensure that promised expenditures on social
programs are in fact made, yet another indication that whatever honeymoon he
may have expected as a new republic head is now very much over (6portal.ru/posts/подчиненные-калиматова-неспособны-п/).
And criticism of his nationalities
minister, outsider Ruslan Volkov, has mounted with Magomed Bogatyrev, head of the
Savage Division horse-riding club, calling on the minister to practice his
skills in some other republic. So far, however, Volkov has not responded in
public (ekhokavkaza.com/a/30314246.html).
Meanwhile, the Memorial Human Rights
organization has published an updated listing of those in detention and a brief
description of their current legal situation. It has designated more than 20 of
them as political prisoners (fortanga.org/2019/12/obnovlyonnyj-spisok-figurantov-dela-o-mitinge-27-marta-v-ingushetii/).
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