In Violation of Constitution and Laws, Russian Court Again Extends Detention of Zarifa Sautiyeva

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 9 – A Stavropol court extended the detention of Ingush activist Zarifa Sautiyeva for two more weeks despite concerns about her health and the risk of infection while she is behind bars and especially when she is being transported from one detention site to another at the time of court hearings.

            Sautiyeva, who has attracted international attention for her work and not her travails and has been declared a political prisoner by Memorial, was judged on this occasion as before behind closed doors, a violation of Russian law and the constitution and despite appeals by the Yabloko Party, Memorial leaders, and her family and friends (kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/350611/).

            She is accused of taking part in an extremist group and in organizing attacks on the police during the demonstration in March 2019.  Her attorney said that he had not expected the court to act differently and expressed concern that it would extend her detention yet again, forcing her to be moved about and her health put at additional risk. 

            Bilan Dzugayev, her attorney and fellow Ingush activist, expressed particular concern that there is no recording of the procedures, something he said would allow the powers that be to write down anything they like and thus further prejudice the case against Sautiyeva who, he argued, is innocent of all charges.

            And he pointed out that the authorities in supposedly giving new reasons for extending her detention rather than releasing Sautiyeva to house arrest used exactly the same terms they did on earlier occasions, an indication that nothing has prompted their action except political considerations.

            Sautiyeva’s sister, Rumina, agreed that the extension was entirely predictable but expressed concerns that her sister, who suffers from diabetes, is already unwell and is thus more at risk of being infected by the coronavirus than most prisoners. That alone should have made her a candidate for release (fortanga.org/2020/06/zarifa-sautieva-ostanetsya-v-sizo-do-25-iyunya/).

            Meanwhile, Ingushetia set another “anti-record” today. Officials reported that it ranks second, only to Daghestan, in the share of coronavirus victims who have died.  They report that there have been 2399 infections and 62 deaths, a mortality rate of 2.5 percent. Only Daghestan had a higher one, 5 percent (doshdu.com/dagestan-i-ingushetija-zanjali-pervye-mesta-v-rossii-po-procentu-letalnosti-ot-koronavirusa/).