Paul Goble
Staunton, Feb. 3 – A Russian appeals court in Stavropol continues to violate the rights of the Ingush Seven, the group of activists who tried to calm protests in March 2019 but were given lengthy sentences for extremism in December 2021, leaving little doubt that they will remain behind bars even if the appeals court does reduce their sentences as their supporters hope.
Most seriously, lawyers for the Seven say, the court has blocked media representatives from attending its hearings, has given the defense access to only 14 of the more than 80 volumes of evidence from the original trial, and has only promised to allow the defendants to attend the next session on February 17 after denying them that opportunity during the first two hearings (fortanga.org/2023/02/otvod-sude-i-siloviki-na-uliczah-kak-proshla-apellyacziya-po-ingushskomu-delu/ and kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/385568/).
Moscow clearly hopes that by dragging out this case, its illegalities will be ignored, thus reducing the possibility that the Ingush Seven case which initially attracted international attention will fade as a subject of attention and not lead to a new round of protests in Ingushetia (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2022/02/memorial-report-on-north-caucasus-leads.html).
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