Torture and a bag with heroin: what is known about the case of the Ingush journalist Rashid Masigov

Since October 2018, residents of Ingushetia have been protesting against the transfer of lands of Chechnya. About 30 activists were arrested in criminal cases, but the persecution affected not only the participants in the rallies. The journalist of the Fortanga publication Rashid Maisigov, who covered the protests, was detained by the FSB officers. He was accused of storing drugs and subjected to torture.

Detention

On July 12, at about six in the morning, the Gates of the Maisigovs was rudely and persistently knocked. Hastily dressed, the mother of Rashid Maisigova, Ferdovs Plieva, opened the gate. In front of her stood armed people in masks, and there was armored military equipment on the street. Without introducing himself, the security forces rushed into the house, into the room of her son. He slept at this time, like everything in the house.

Ten minutes later, the security forces under the muzzle of the machine gun and in handcuffs brought Rashid into the corridor. His parents, sister and aunt were blocked in the kitchen. Part of what was happening in the corridor was visible and audible. They forbidden anyone to call, and the phones were taken.

Then the FSB officers-by this moment they still introduced themselves-gave a signal to an drug control officer named Mayorov, who was on the street. He entered the house and with the words “witnesses, pay attention, now I am conducting a personal search” took out a bag of white powder from the rear pocket of Maisigov jeans.

On the coffee table were leaflets with the calls of the accession of Ingushetia to Georgia, which were pasted around the republic in May 2019. According to Plieva, before that they were not in the house.

At half past eight in the morning, the security forces finished the search in the journalist’s room and took him to the republican narcological dispensary.

“Pay attention to two things. The request for the examination of Rashid for intoxication was already ready and printed signed by the head of the drug control of the Republic of Kolesnikov. They could not print him on the road, then they arrived with him. And also - for the fact that they were in the drug dispensary before the start of the working day and they were accepted, ”says journalist lawyer Magomed Aushev.

According to the lawyer, after that, Maisigov put on the bag on his head and took them away. For more than 12 hours, nothing was known about the whereabouts of the journalist. He was not allowed to call the lawyer, and as it turned out later, all this time Maisigov was kept in the FSB building.

Torture

After ten in the evening, Rashid Masigov was brought to the local Ministry of Internal Affairs. The next day, the lawyer announced torture: “They put the wires to his earlobes and beat him with electric shock. This is a painful procedure. This continued all day, crushed morally. ” He later added: "He told me and Ombudsman Ozdoev ."

Maisigov was charged with large -scale drug storage (part 2 of article 228 of the Criminal Code). He did not admit his guilt and took advantage of the right of the 51st articles of the Constitution (not to testify against himself).

In a conversation with his mother, during a court to choose a preventive measure, Masigov denied torture so that she would not worry. Employees of the human rights center Memorial, Legal Initiative, the Committee against torture and other organizations became interested in the use of torture, but there were no traces of the journalist’s body by that time. “Now it’s not 37 years old, there are such virtuoso work, there are no traces,” the lawyer says.

A chemical examination recognized the substance with the Substances of Heroin. The flushes from the hands that produced on the day of detention in the FSB building showed traces of heroin, but there were no traces of heroin’s blood. “She was made with lightning speed, faded to the trial,” the lawyer says. “The results of the examination are distorted, but we cannot prove it.”

Indications under torture

There are evidence of Rashid Masigov at the disposal of the ATS-Info, which he signed under torture. In them, Masigov admits that he bought heroin two to three weeks before the detention, in Magas. According to the indications, he acquired it for personal use.

According to the mother of the journalist, at that time-two or three weeks ago-Masigov was not in Ingushetia. He stopped his journalistic activity due to threats and left the republic for a while, and returned two to three days before his detention.

Earlier, the journalist reported that he was threatened to throw drugs. According to the lawyer, the person who is threatened to throw drugs will not in contact with them. Analysis for the content of narcotic substances in the body was shown by the lack of heroin and its analogues. This means that Heroine did not use Maisigov.

Masigov was detained for drugs, but, according to the lawyer, nothing about them is said about the court order. “It says that he was engaged in activities aimed at destroying the integrity of the state and changing the constitutional system, and this is the investigation of the FSB. For some reason, an employee of the drug control was needed to detain Masigov and the examination of his dwelling, who, as a result, found drugs, ”says Aushev.

Also, according to the first reports of the lawyer after the detention of Micigov, the journalist was intimidated by an article about the state treason. But in the end, this article was not charged.

The circumstances of the detention in the testimony of Micigov vary from those that the mother and aunt of the journalist are stated. For example, the documents say that Rashid himself let the FSB employees and took them into the house. However, according to his mother and aunts, he was awakened, instructing him an automatic, and immediately put on handcuffs. Masigov’s clothes at this time lay on a chair, next to the bed. According to the lawyer, it was then that the drug could be thrown.

Information attack and pressure

Mediazona reported that during the preparation of the material about Maisigov, a man called him who introduced himself to his uncle: “According to him, he learned through a lawyer that the Mediazona was looking for information about Miasigov, and therefore decided to call himself. The man insisted that "Masigov had nothing to do with" Fortangorg "and asked" not to inflate the scandal. " Lawyer Magomed Bekov, with whom the Mediazona was contacted before that about the detention of Masigov, said that he did not give anyone the correspondent’s number and suggested that the operative could call. ”

Later, in the telegram channel of the Federal correspondent Abbas Juma, a post appeared that Rashid Maisigov “addict”. In confirmation, Juma published an act of examination for the presence of intoxication, which showed the presence of tetrahydrocannabinol (the main psychoactive component of marijuana).

“Smoking is not a crime. Moreover, according to Rashid, he did it extremely rarely. Marijuana is decriminalized in most countries of Europe, the USA and even Georgia. This is personally the matter of everyone. And this in no way concerns his activity and has nothing to do with our business, ”says the lawyer.

He notes that the act of examination is a document constituting a medical secret. “Where did he get on the Internet? If he was leaked by the drug dispensary, then there will be strict questions about medical ethics. In addition, for the disclosure of this kind of information, liability is provided for, up to the criminal, under Article 137 of the Criminal Code. ”

Rashid Masigov wrote on topics related to corruption, unemployment and violation of human rights in Ingushetia. Shortly before the detention of Masigov, the editor-in-chief Isabella Evloev left the Fortanga-due to threats to the family due to her activities. And on July 14, a day after the detention of Rashid Maisigov, it also became known about the blocking of Fortanga by decision of Roskomnadzor. The administration of the resource did not receive any warnings.

“Fortanga” is an independent opposition resource covering protests that have been held in Ingushetia since October 2018. Residents massively opposed the agreement on a new border signed by the heads of Chechnya and Ingushetia.

In March 2019, a rally in Magas passed into clashes between the fighters of the Russian Guard and the protesters. For two months, about 30 activists were placed in jail on charges of riots and violence against government representatives. About 200 people were brought to administrative responsibility. Some of the activists were abroad during this period, and their persecution did not affect.

In May of this year, leaflets were hung in large settlements of Ingushetia with an appeal of the accession of Ingushetia to Georgia. The protest leaders rejected their involvement in leaflets and called it a provocation against the movement, and the authors of separatist calls remained unknown. It was these leaflets that were allegedly discovered by houses from a journalist. In the testimony given under torture, Masigov says that the journalist Isabella Evloev, with whom they worked together, passed the leaflets through the intermediary. He allegedly stuck them around the republic.

Lawyer Magomet Aushev believes that the detention of Maisigov is associated with the likely persecution of Isabella Evloeva. In his opinion, a criminal case of public calls for separatism can be made on her.

In the case of Rashid Maisigov, two examinations were appointed: narcological, which will show whether he suffers from addiction, and chemical - for determining the substance. “We will question their expertise as unacceptable evidence, because according to the law, the examination should be independent,” says Aushev about already conducted analyzes.

The court arrested a journalist for two months. On July 25, an appeal will be held to choose a preventive measure to Rashid Masigov. “I do not see the grounds to isolate it from society. Moreover, the investigator has no reason for his arrest, ”says the lawyer. “If the case comes to court, then there is no chance of justification, but there is a probability of a conditional term.”