Eco-protests in Bashkiria: 34 administrative arrests and the prospect of a criminal case

In the 1950s, development began on one of the four shihans - hills located along the Belaya River. Each of them has a name: Kushtau, Shakhtau, Yuraktau and Toratau. They are considered one of the main attractions of the region; the last two have protected status. Shikhany contains limestone, necessary for the production of soda, which is why a soda-cement plant was built in the 1930s in the city of Sterlitamak, located near the hills. Later, the Bashkir Soda Company (BSK) arose on its basis.

BSK began to think about the development of Kushtau, which does not have a protected status : by 2022, Shakhtau’s reserves will be depleted , the shihan itself has already turned into a quarry. At the end of 2018, the head of Bashkiria, Radiy Khabirov, decided to develop Kushtau. In response to this, activists staged protests . In early August, loggers from the BSK company were spotted near Kushtau. A few more days later they saw the equipment. To prevent the development of Kushtau, activists set up a tent camp.

In early August, the activists' camp was attacked by unknown persons with bandages on their faces. The day before on August 9, a protest rally with the participation of several thousand people took place near Kushtau. The attackers waited until the people dispersed, leaving about 20 people in the camp. The attackers were allowed into the territory of the camp by the private security company. The strong men smashed the tents and injured several defenders - broken arms and noses were reported. According to activists, the police did not arrive for a long time, and the attackers fled.

On August 15, a forceful dispersal of the camp began and about 70 people were detained . First, about 200 private security company employees arrived and used tear gas. “Some athletes and bikers arrived along with the riot police. Everyone, together with the private security company employees, pulls the defenders out of the crowd and hands them over to the police. We do not allow special equipment to pass,” Ural reported . MBH Media” activist who was at the scene.

The lawyer from “Apology of Protest” was not allowed to see the detainees at the Sterlitamak police department for several hours . Some of the detainees were taken to departments in other localities. At the departments, the activists were charged with articles of the administrative code on arbitrariness (Article 19.1 of the Administrative Code) and disobedience to the demands of a police officer (Article 19.3 of the Administrative Code).

The next day, the Shikhan defenders recaptured their camp. Several thousand people came to the mountain, they broke the metal mesh fence built the day before by employees of the BSK company.

On August 17, the courts ordered the arrests of 34 Kushtau defenders. They will serve sentences from one to 15 days in special detention centers. On the same day, the head of the region, Radiy Khabirov, said that “the subject of serious criminal proceedings” would be attacks on internal affairs officers: two security officers were injured during the arrest, and they are in the hospital.

On the same day, several hundred residents of Ishimbay held a rally in front of the district administration building. They demanded that the head of the district, Azamat Abdrakhmanov, be fired. The police did not detain anyone. Protesters believe that last weekend Abdrakhmanov led the destruction of the environmental activist camp and took an active part in it. The city administration stated that they do not know what the residents are demanding: “We don’t hear, our windows are closed.”