The Stavropol Regional Court refused to cancel the arrest of a protest participant in Magas

The Stavropol Regional Court rejected an appeal to extend the arrest of Zarifa Sautiyeva, a participant in protests against changing the border between Ingushetia and Chechnya. This was reported to OVD-Info by lawyer Bilan Dzugaev.

According to Dzugaev's lawyer, neither the prosecutor nor the judge set forth significant arguments against the satisfaction of Sautiyeva's appeal. Also, the judge did not explain why Sautiyeva was refused to be brought from the pre-trial detention center directly to the court for consideration of the extension of the arrest in the first instance. According to Dzugaev, lawyers continue to be allowed into the isolation ward of the activist only on a certain list that he is included in, but other defenders with whom Sautiyeva entered into an agreement on providing legal assistance cannot get to the client.

Sautieva is accused of organizing the use of violence against government officials (part 3 of article 33, part 2 of article 318 of the Criminal Code). According to investigators, during the rally Sautiyeva called on the protesters to illegal actions. Earlier, the activist’s defense insisted on attaching a video recording to the case file, from which it follows that Sautiyeva, on the contrary, asked the protesters “not to throw chairs” at the security forces.

• On September 9, the court extended Sautiyeva's arrest until December 11. Because of the accusation of complicity in violence against law enforcement officers, she has been held in a pre-trial detention center since July 15.
• The Ingush branch of Yabloko, the Support of Ingushetia movement and the Patriotic Union of Women of Ingushetia believe that the persecution of Sautiyeva is connected with her civic position. In April, she was fined for participating in the protests in Ingushetia on March 27, and before that, they tried to dismiss her from the post of deputy director for research at the Memorial Complex for the Victims of Repressions.
• On March 26, in Magas, local residents held a concerted rally against the redistribution of borders with Chechnya, its participants demanded the resignation of the head of the republic, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov. After the official end of the action, as the "Caucasian Knot" reported , about two thousand protesters remained on the square all night. On the morning of March 27, the security forces began to disperse the protesters, clashes broke out . The protesters left the square after the authorities promised to agree on a new action in five days. After that, local residents gathered at the entrance to Nazran, blocking the federal highway "Caucasus".