Friday, February 14, 2020

Stavropol Courts Violate Law to Extend Detention of Ingush Activist, Hide Torture by Siloviki


Paul Goble

            Staunton, February 7 – Even when the cases of Ingush protesters reach the courts, they cannot count on the rule of law. Today, for example, one Stavropol court extended the detention of an Ingush protester, Bagaudin Myakiyev, beyond what the law allows in order to block an investigation into his charges of torture by officials (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/345643/).

            His lawyers promise to appeal the decision, and Konstantin Gusev, a leader of the Committee Against Torture, says his group will continue its investigation in this case because it has sufficient documentation already to prove that the siloviki in Ingushetia have violated legal norms.

            Meanwhile, another court accepted video testimony from a secret informer as the basis for bringing new charges against Ingush protester Rezvan Ozdoyev, even though his lawyers did not have the opportunity to cross examine the witness and even though the video showed that the siloviki had committed the crime Ozdoyev is now charged with (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/345636/).

            There was one piece of good news, but even there, officials behaved badly. Siloviki released Khasan Zyazikov from a detention center but did not inform his family so there was no one there to meet him.  His family has suffered mightily as the result of the loss of income caused by his detention (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/345644/).

            In addition, Fortanga news portal continued its series on how Ingush people can protect themselves against illegal electronic monitoring by the siloviki. In this installment, it discussed the specific challenges lawyers for protesters charged with crimes (fortanga.org/2020/02/esli-ty-aktivist-chast-vtoraya-provajder-sledit-za-toboj/).

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