Detention extended for two protest participants in Ingushetia

The Essentuki City Court extended the detention of Ingush activist Zarifa Sautieva, accused of organizing the use of violence against police officers (Part 3 of Article 33, Part 2 of Article 318 of the Criminal Code). Her lawyer Bilan Dzugaev reported this on his Telegram channel.

The court extended Sautieva’s detention in the pre-trial detention center until March 11, 2020, fully satisfying the prosecution’s request. At the same time, according to the lawyer, the investigator did not provide evidence in court that the investigation had done any work on the case since the previous extension of the arrest.

“We pointed out to the court that the investigation presented a motion for extension identical to the previous motion, literally word for word, except for a couple of sentences. The materials attached to the application are 100% identical to the previous materials. It turns out that during the 3 months for which Sautieva’s previous arrest was extended, the investigation did nothing. Why did they extend it?” writes the lawyer.

Dzugaev indicated that the investigator presented in court a certificate confirming that Sautieva had familiarized herself with the materials of 150 examinations. The lawyer claims that this certificate does not correspond to reality.

Also, the Supreme Court of Russia today, December 9, extended the preventive measure for Khasan Katsiev, a participant in protests against changing the borders between Ingushetia and Chechnya. The Caucasian Knot reports this.

Katsieva’s detention in the pre-trial detention center was extended at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office until March 23, 2020. The man is accused of using violence against a security officer that is not dangerous to health (Part 1 of Article 318 of the Criminal Code).

“Since all the deadlines had expired, we filed a reasonable request to release him. We referred to the fact that the deadlines for completing the investigation, or more precisely, for presenting documents for familiarization with the case materials, were violated. If the deadline for providing documents expires, the detainee is subject to immediate release,” Katsiev’s lawyer Vitaly Zubenko said in a conversation with the Caucasian Knot.

However, in response to the defense statement, the Prosecutor General's Office asked to extend the detention. Katsiev’s preventive measure was extended during the consideration of another petition from the Prosecutor General’s Office: to change jurisdiction in his case to the Zheleznovodsk City Court.

Prosecutors believe that courts in Ingushetia will not be able to impartially consider criminal cases against protesters in Magas. The Supreme Court agreed with the Prosecutor General's Office and changed jurisdiction in Katsiev's case.

December 30th. The Stavropol Regional Court rejected an appeal to extend the arrest until March 11, 2020 of member of the Ingush Committee of National Unity Zarifa Sautieva, Memorial reports.

• According to investigators, during the protest, Sautieva called on protesters to take illegal actions. Previously, the activist’s defense insisted on including a video recording in the case file, from which it follows that Sautieva, on the contrary, asked the protesters “not to throw chairs” at the security forces.
• In September, the court extended Sautieva's arrest until December 11. Due to charges of complicity in violence against law enforcement officers, she has been held in a pre-trial detention center since July 15. In October, the Stavropol Regional Court rejected an appeal to extend Sautieva’s arrest. In early October, two of Sautieva’s three lawyers were not allowed to see her in the pre-trial detention center by special order of the head of the investigation team.
• Katsiev was detained on April 23 in Mineralnye Vody. On the same day, two more local activists, Rashid Aushev and Akhmed Nalgiev, were detained in Ingushetia. All three were suspected of clashes with police at a rally on March 27 in Magas. Katsiev does not admit his guilt.
• On October 20, the investigationchanged the charge against Katsiev to a less serious one from Part 2 of Article 318 of the Criminal Code to Part 1 of Article 318 of the Criminal Code. In this regard, according to lawyer Vitaly Zubenko, Katsiev should have been released from custody, but this did not happen.
• On March 26, in Magas, local residents held a coordinated rally against the redistribution of borders with Chechnya; its participants demanded the resignation of the head of the republic, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov. On the morning of March 27, security forces began to disperse the remaining protesters, and clashes broke out .