Protests in Ingushetia: protest ban and criminal cases

Where did it start

Less than 500 thousand people live in Ingushetia; it became part of Russia at the end of the 18th century. The Ingush were among the peoples that Joseph Stalin deported in the 40s . The topic of the republic’s borders remains important and painful for local residents. In 1992, armed clashes occurred between the Ingush and residents of North Ossetia. More than 600 people died then, mostly Ingush.

Ingushetia also has territorial disputes with Chechnya, which is headed by the influential Ramzan Kadyrov. In 2013–2014, they led to clashes between security forces from Chechnya and Ingushetia. On September 26, 2018, the heads of the republics, Ramzan Kadyrov and Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, signed an agreement on the settlement of the border. The Ingush perceived it as disadvantageous for them.

In October 2018, protests by thousands began in Ingushetia. By the end of the year they had faded away. At first they tried to persecute the protesters, but then the persecution stopped . In the fall of 2018, there was no violence in Ingushetia.

Rally and clashes

A new wave of protests in Ingushetia began at the end of March 2019. On March 28, the Ingush parliament was supposed to consider the new version of the republican law on a referendum in the second reading.

In the proposed version disappeared , the paragraph stating that issues of changing the borders of the republic should be decided at a national referendum . This caused widespread discontent.

A new rally was scheduled for March 26. By this time, the bill was withdrawn, but the protests did not stop. Now among the demands is the resignation of the head of the republic. Yunus-bek Yevkurov has led Ingushetia since 2008. There are no direct elections of the head of the region in the republic; his candidacy was first proposed by Dmitry Medvedev, then by Vladimir Putin and approved in the local parliament.

A new rally was agreed upon on March 26. on the website of the Ingush Investigative Committee The day before, on the evening of March 25, a message appeared that a criminal case had been opened for calls for unrest on Instagram. Whether there are any suspects in this case is still unknown.

The March 26 rally also attracted thousands of participants. During the event, there were interruptions in the Internet in Magas. Some of the protesters stayed overnight in the square; during the night the National Guard tried to disperse them three times.

— In October, there were a lot of people on the square, including at night, and the authorities did not dare to use force. Now, when there was an attempt to disperse, there were literally a couple of hundred people in the square. The meeting itself was absolutely calm. The first attempt to disperse the crowd was made at about five in the morning, when some of those spending the night stood up for prayer. The overwhelming majority attacked the security forces assigned to Ingushetia, but among them were people from Yevkurov’s bodyguard,” says OVD-Info Ruslan Mutsolgov, the leader of the youth “Yabloko” in Ingushetia.

On March 27, protesters left the square. Their leaders stated that they had received guarantees from the authorities that on Monday, April 1, they would be allowed to rally again. Those leaving the square briefly blocked the Caucasus federal highway. On March 28, a night protest car rally took place in Magas.

The reaction of the authorities and the plans of the protesters

— There is no information about those arrested yet. Due to the confrontation at the rally, arrests and repression are possible; it is difficult to say in what format this will take place. All the people are now waiting to see how events will develop. There are more police officers on the street than usual, the situation is tense,” tells OVD-Info . Magomed Barakhoev, head of the human rights organization “Legal Initiative,”

At the end of last week, the Russian National Guard, whose competence includes maintaining order at rallies and monitoring how citizens store firearms, organized a mass inspection of owners of traumatic and hunting weapons in Ingushetia.

— Since March 25, armored vehicles and units of the Russian Guard have been arriving in the republic from Moscow, St. Petersburg and other regions. There is unofficial information about units from other North Caucasus regions. Representatives of the top leadership of the Russian Guard came to Ingushetia for several days. Everything is going towards preventing anyone from carrying out any actions,” continues Ruslan Mutsolgov.

On Sunday morning, a refusal was received to hold a new rally between April 5 and April 9. The authorities refer to the fact that the deadlines for submitting the notification were violated. They no longer remember the promise to allow a new rally on April 1. Mutsolgov noted in a conversation with OVD-Info that on Thursday and Friday they did not accept applications for the rally: “Either documents were accepted only until three o’clock, then they asked to wait, wait, and then they said that there was no one.”

On the morning of April 1, protest organizers called on supporters to remain calm and promised that they would obtain permission to hold a new rally. among police officers in Ingushetia Layoffs have begun . According to Mutsolgov, the police officers who formed a human chain between the security forces and the protesters during the confrontation are being fired. of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ingushetia also resigned The head .

In addition, some activists on Sunday received subpoenas for questioning by the Investigative Committee. On April 1, the Investigative Committee announced the initiation of a criminal case for the use of violence against ten employees of the Russian Guard and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

— Yevkurov does not say that it is necessary to figure out whether there was a crime or not, but demands that the organizers of the rally on March 26 be punished. Yevkurov is on edge, perhaps there is pressure on him from the Kremlin, because he has proven himself to be a troublemaker,” notes Mutsolgov.