Rights defenders take trial against leaders of Ingush protest under public observation

On April 13, Oleg Orlov, a member of the Council of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) “Memorial”*, became involved as a public defender in the trial in a case against Ingush activists. The human rights defender represents the defence of Zarifa Sautieva.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the leaders of the Ingush protest, accused within the case of the Magas rally, went on a hunger strike and refused to participate in the trial in protest against the court's decision, which on March 16 ordered to return Sautieva to custody a week after her transfer to house arrest. On March 23, the activists stopped the hunger strike, explaining this decision by the requests of the Muftiate and the Council of Teips (Family Clans) of Ingushetia.

Apart from Oleg Orlov, a number of public figures were also involved in the proceedings, including Lev Ponomaryov, the chairman of the movement “For Human Rights”*, Valery Khatazhukov, the head of the Human Rights Centre of Kabardino-Balkaria, and human rights defender Ruslan Mutsolgov, the chairman of the Ingush regional branch of the “Yabloko” Party.

“Every defendant has public defenders. These are all kinds of people. Some of them are from Ingushetia, while some are from other regions. Thus, we have arranged the last opportunity to protect the people. I decided to defend Zarifa, because her interests in court are represented by two advocates hired by the HRC ‘Memorial’*, including an advocate from Moscow and his colleague from Ingushetia,” Oleg Orlov told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.

The human rights defender hopes for an acquittal to the defendants in the Ingush case. “I will not speculate about the outcome. However, I personally can say that from the point of view of the law, it is obvious that the defendants are to be acquitted. In their speeches during the court hearing held on April 13, all prosecution witnesses and victims failed to refer to a single fact in favour of the prosecution,” Oleg Orlov emphasized.

* The organization is included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in the “Register of non-profit organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent”.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 14, 2021 at 06:42 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.