The border is passed

The authorities moved from peaceful exhortations to the power of the Ingush crisis

After a skirmish with the employees of the Russian Guard in Ingushetia, searches and arrests of protest leaders are held. About 40 people were detained, four charges were charged with criminal articles. To the main question: how to establish a dialogue between the authorities and the people-there is still no answer.

Early on the morning of April 15, the police and the forces of the Russian Guard on armored vehicles surrounded the house of the chairman of the Ingush human rights movement Mashr Magomed Mutsolgov in Karabulak. The search also took place in the organization’s office. Magomed Mutsolgov, together with his brother and ally Ruslan Mutsolgov, took part in all rallies of protest regarding the border with Chechnya, which the republic has been covered since the fall of 2018. (Then, in the fall, there were no sanctions against the protesters.) The current search lasted about five hours. “They seized documents, took the seal of organizations, phones and various papers. The video cameras that stand around the house and office were also taken away, ”Mutsolgov himself commented on the results of the police operation. No accusations were brought to the human rights activist.

Let me remind you that searches in houses and arrests of protest leaders, as well as active rallies have been held in Ingushetia since April 2. About forty people have already been detained. Most of the detainees issued administrative arrest for 10 days, others - fines in the amount of 50 to 250 thousand rubles. The Magasian District Court did not satisfy any of several dozen attempts to appeal arrest or fine.

Four leaders of protest-Akhmed Barakhoev, Musa Malsagov, Barah Chemurziev and Bagaudin Khautiev-on April 3 sent administrative arrest in the pre-trial detention center of the neighboring Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria.

On April 4, the day after the arrest, the Ingush elder Ahmed Barakhoev announced a hunger strike, demanding to let all the detainees go. On April 13, when the ten -day period of administrative arrest expired, Barakhoev stopped the hunger strike. However, a few hours later it turned out that he was not going to release him. When leaving the pre-trial detention center, the 64-year-old Barakhoev was again detained and charged him under Part 2 of Art. 318 of the Criminal Code - the use of violence in relation to a representative of the authorities. The same article was presented with two other protests, serving their term in the pre -trial detention center of Nalchik: Barah Chemurziev and Bagaudin Khautiev. Musa Malsagov was charged with more serious accusations, in addition to the 318th, he was also charged with 212 articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation-calls for riots or participation in them.

The next day, the court arrested all four for two months. Interrogation and identification are underway. All participants in the criminal case are sure that the persecution is purely political in nature.

Protests in Ingushetia have been continuing since the fall of last year, when it became known about signing an agreement on the administrative border between Ingushetia and Chechnya by the heads of the Republic Yunus Buck Evkurov and Ramzan Kadyrov. There was no public hearings on this issue, which outraged many in Ingushetia. The Ingush considered that their rights were infringed, and went out into the streets. In addition to the requirements for the abolition of the approved border, calls for the resignation of Yevkurov clearly began to sound. (Given the fact that the Ingush chapter was just a reassignment, the moment turned out to be as suitable.) Then the authorities agreed on a rally for one day, but it spontaneously lasted almost two weeks, and the police and the Russian Guard did not even try to disperse it, peacefully protecting the perimeter. This standing did not affect the already approved border.

Later, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation confirmed the legality of the demarcation between Chechnya and Ingushetia. It should be noted that that rally was purely peaceful: calm, mutual respect and law observed both protesters and security forces. Then there were no sanctions in connection with the formal violation of the Administrative Code by the authorities in relation to the protesters.

In March of this year, the head of Ingushetia introduced the amendments to the regional law on a referendum to the parliament, from where the paragraph related to the right of residents of the republic to approve administrative borders precisely through a referendum. As later explained in parliament, this happened “by chance” in the preparation of the document. When a painful error was discovered and flared up, Yevkurov recalled amendments and was even ready to bring them to a public discussion. But the Ingush on March 26 again went to the rally and already in categorical formed the resignation of Yevkurov and the government of Ingushetia. It should be noted that Yevkurov turned to the protesters several times, to the elders with a request to "restrain the youth" and "not to allow illegal actions."

However, when the rally agreed on one day dragged on and outgrew into aggressive skirmishes with the fighters of the Russian Guard, the patience of the authorities ended.

The Russian Guard announced 10 employees injured as a result of clashes. Of the other regions, the reinforced units of the Russian Guard and traffic police officers, which were located in field camps throughout the republic, were introduced into Ingushetia. In parallel, arrests and searches from leaders and activists began. Passport control has been strengthened in the republic.

On April 3, at an emergency meeting with the republican security forces, Yunus-Bek Evkurov publicly demanded “criminal cases for instigators of unrest”.