Memorial Human Rights Group Challenges Magas on Coronavirus Statistics

Paul Goble

            Staunton, June 10 – The Memorial Human Rights Group has called on the Ingush authorities to re-examine the data they have released about the coronavirus. That data suggests that the situation in the restive North Caucasus republic is bad, but reports by citizens suggest it is far worse than the official statistics show.

            Ingush residents say that they know of many cases of coronavirus infection which were not counted and also of many times when people turned to medical institutions to be tested for the presence of the virus and were turned away (fortanga.org/2020/06/memorial-usomnilsya-v-ofitsialnoj-statistike-po-koronavirusu-v-ingushetii-i-poprosil-razyasnenij-u-glavy-regiona/).

            One consequence of these reports, which are being taken seriously by Memorial, is that independent news outlets like the Fortanga portal are no longer publishing the official data because they believe the numbers offered have little or no connection with reality but rather are designed to make Magas look good in the eyes of Moscow.

            Meanwhile, in an attempt to calm the situation and prevent the possibility that Ingush residents will stay home rather than vote in Putin’s referendum, the Ingush authorities have issued a remarkably detailed description of their plans to protect those who take part (gazetaingush.ru/obshchestvo/v-rosspotrebnadzore-ingushetii-rasskazali-kak-budet-soblyudatsya-epidbezopasnost-na).

            But Magas and Moscow have not stopped their attacks on their critics. Ingush historian Nudin Kodzoyev reports that his social network has been hacked and destroyed. This is the second such case this year (fortanga.org/2020/06/ingushskij-istorik-nurdin-kodzoev-zayavil-o-vzlome-ego-stranitsy-v-sotsseti/).