Paul Goble
Staunton, Feb. 4 – The travails of the Ingush Seven activists who were sentenced to prison for organizing demonstrations against the handing over of Ingush land to Chechnya aren’t ending with their release from prison, Now that one of their number, Bagaudin Khautiyev, is out, a pro-Kremlin telegram channel is calling for him to be drafted and sent to Ukraine.
In the past, Russian officials have often brought new charges against those who have been released from prison in order to keep them from continuing their dissident activity; but now they have more convenient method, forcing them to serve in Ukraine from which they may not return alive.
Khautiyev appears likely to be the first Ingush activist who will be treated in this way. (On his release, see fortanga.org/2025/02/ingushskij-aktivist-bagaudin-hautiev-osvobodilsya-iz-kolonii/; on the call that he be sent to fight in Ukraine, see t.me/s/rozyskri and fortanga.org/2025/02/proverit-na-mobilizacziyu-rupor-ingushskih-silovikov-otreagiroval-na-osvobozhdenie-politzaklyuchennogo-bagaudina-hautieva/).
If in fact Moscow succeeds in sending Khautiyeva to fight and die in Ukraine, it is likely that the Russian authorities will use this method elsewhere in the Russian Federation to remove from the scene more permanently and quite possibly with fewer protests against such actions those who have protested against its policies.
Human rights groups both inside Russia and beyond its current borders need to speak now about the risks Khatiyev faces. Any failure to do so may very well cost him and others not just their freedom but their lives.
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