Ingush Activist Turns State’s Evidence, Raising Concerns a Show Trial is Near

Paul Goble

            Staunton, August 18 – Idris Abadiyev, who attracted attention for his participation in the anti-Yevkurov protests at the end of 2018, is giving evidence against his former colleagues, raising the possibility that Magas and Moscow may have found a way to organize a show trial against the most prominent Ingush activists (kavkazr.com/a/30787676.html).\

            Some Ingush say that Abadiyev acted strangely at the time of the protests, raising the possibility that he was cooperating or planning to cooperate with the authorities even then. Others have expressed outrage at his betrayal of those who thought he was in fact a fellow Ingush activist.

            In another indication that a show trial may be near, the authorities held a hearing about the seven likely defendants – Zarifa Sautiyeva, Barakh Chemurziyev, Bagaudin Khautiyev, Malsag Uzhakhov, Akhmed Barakhoyev, Musa Malsagov and Ismail Nalgiyev – not in Magas but in Pyatigorsk (fortanga.org/2020/08/ingushskie-aktivisty-dobilis-otvoda-nebespristrastnogo-sudi/).

            Under Russian law, any hearing of their case should be in Ingushetia; but lawyers for the seven say that Moscow and Magas continue to process them outside the republic, fearful that a trial inside Ingushetia would spark demonstrations of one kind or another.  These arrangements also make it more difficult for their lawyers to mount a defense. 

            Meanwhile, last night, a group of persons unknown attacked a group of Russian Guards near Galashka in the Sunzhe district near the Chechen border. At least one of the attackers was wounded, and the siloviki are seeking him and the others in the nearby mountains (fortanga.org/2020/08/neizvestnye-obstrelyali-v-ingushetii-sotrudnikov-rosgvardii/).