The court extended the detention of a protest participant in Ingushetia for two and a half months

The Stavropol Regional Court has extended the detention of Zarifa Sautiyeva, a protester in Ingushetia, until September 25. Sautieva's lawyer Bilan Dzugaev told OVD-Info about this.

The investigation asked to extend the preventive measure due to the fact that Sautiyeva is still getting acquainted with the materials of the criminal case. At the same time, according to the prosecution, she can interfere with the course of the investigation if she is released from custody.

“We drew the attention of the court to the fact that since March 18 she has been familiarized with the criminal case and will not finish her familiarization. And then they extend it - this was the third extension in a month and a half - each time referring to the fact that it is her rights that must be observed. We didn’t have time to acquaint her, respectively, this is for her, she needs it, as it were, ”said Dzugaev.

According to the lawyer, by May 18, Sautiyeva had already familiarized herself with more than a hundred volumes of the criminal case. She still has about 10-15 volumes to read. At the same time, since May 18, the investigation no longer takes Sautieva out for familiarization with the case materials.

The investigator at the hearing explained this by the coronavirus pandemic. However, the lawyer noted that from March to May, Sautiyeva was taken out of the pre-trial detention center almost every day, despite the coronavirus.

The lawyer believes that in this way the investigation artificially creates grounds for extending the preventive measure, despite the fact that all investigative actions have already been completed.

The defense convinced the court that the investigation would drag out the proceedings, but the judge extended the detention period. At the same time, he ordered the prosecutor to ensure that within two weeks the investigation ensures that Sautiyeva is familiarized with the remaining materials of the case.

Dzugaev also said that on July 6, the Fifth Court of Cassation in Pyatigorsk declared the detention of Zarifa Sautieva from September 9 to December 11, 2019, illegal.

In the complaint, the lawyer referred to two serious violations that were committed during the extension of the measure of restraint.

Firstly, during the hearing, at the request of the investigator, the judge removed one of Sautiyeva's two lawyers. Dzugaev stressed that the investigator did not have the right to file such a request at the hearing to extend the preventive measure. Thus, the court, the lawyer believes, violated the defendant's right to defense.

Secondly, Sautiyeva was not brought to the court's decision to prolong the preventive measure.

For what reason, the court recognized the complaint of the defense as justified, and the extension of the measure of restraint - illegal, is currently unknown: the court decision has not yet been handed over to the lawyer.

• In early July, the Stavropol Regional Court also ruled that Sautieva's detention until June 25 was illegal.
• In the wake of the 2019 protests in Ingushetia against changing the borders with Chechnya, Zarifa Sautiyeva is charged with organizing violence that endangers the life and health of government officials (part 2 of article 318 of the Criminal Code with the application of part 3 of article 33 of the Criminal Code), as well as participation in an extremist community ( part 2 of article 282.1 of the Criminal Code). She has been in custody since July 12, 2019.