The largest political business since the time of the USSR

Almost 100 people are accused of riots in Bashkortostan, they face up to 20 years in prison. Two suspects died

In January, the most massive protests of Russia in recent years were held in Bashkortostan. The reason for them was the trial of the local activist Faile Alsynov. The residents who disagree with his persecution several times entered the shares in the city of Baymak, where the court took place, and then in Ufa, the capital of the republic. The tight overclocking of folk gatherings was followed by criminal cases. In the Baymak case there are already more than 80 accused, two detainees are dead: one committed suicide due to pressure, the second died under mysterious circumstances shortly after the detention. "Cold" talks about the most massive political affair of the warring Russia.

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In April 2023, the famous Bashkir activist Fail Alsynov spoke out at a popular gathering against gold mining in front of the inhabitants of the village of Ishmurzino. At the end of the speech, which he pronounced in the Bashkir language, Alsynov said the phrase “Kara Halyk”. Because of this phrase, the head of Bashkortostan Radii Khabirov turned to the prosecutor's office with a request to bring Alsynov to justice for inciting interethnic growth, calls for extremism and “discrediting” of the Russian Federation.

According to the prosecution, the phrase “Kara Halyk” is translated into Russian as “black people” or “black people” and expresses a negative attitude towards the inhabitants of the Caucasus and Central Asia. Alsynov and the side of protection claimed that this is the wrong translation and the phrase should be understood as “ordinary people”.

The first thousands of people in defense of Alsynov was held on January 15 near the Baymak court building, where the debate of the parties took place on that day. The people who came to support Alsynov in court shouted "Beҙ - ҡara halaҡ!" (“We are simple people!”) - the same phrase that the accusation considered “inciting hatred”.

January 17, on the day of the sentence, thousands of people again entered the street. Almost immediately after Alsynov was sentenced to four years in colony, and the crowd chanted slogans, special forces began to beat and detain the protesters. In response to the detentions and use of tear gas and light -school grenades, people began to throw snow and pieces of ice in the security forces. A few hours after the start of the rally, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under an article on riots. The confrontation lasted near the court building all day. Despite the power acceleration, the protesters only did not disagree for a long time.

In total, about 18 thousand people live in the city of Baymak, where the trial of Alsynov was on, while in protests, according to local residents, from three to 10 thousand participated. Many came from other cities.

Despite the hard acceleration and criminal case of riots, thousands of people protested again on January 19 - this time in the capital of the Republic of Ufa. This action also ended with detentions . At first, administrative protocols were drawn up for people, but soon they began to arrest already under a criminal article and send it to a pre -trial detention center.

The most massive persecution of protesters

Human rights activists call the Baymak case the most massive criminal process for participating in protest in modern Russia. “Previously, we combined criminal cases in essence - for example, “ sanitary ” , “ palace case ” or “ anti -war case ” - because it was easier to tell about persecutions. But from a legal point of view, these were separate criminal cases for various occasions, ”Dmitry Anisimov, spokesman for the OVD-Info, told the cold.

“Here we are talking about one giant criminal case against almost a hundred people. This is an unprecedented situation for modern Russia, ”says Anisimov.

The Mediazon publication at the same time found that, in addition to the criminal case, which was instituted on January 17 (for mass riots and violence against the security forces), there was another, excited on January 20. It stated that the protest participants "attacked the deputy platoon commander of a separate company of the patrol service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the city of Oktyabrsky and the policeman of the same company." At least six police and the Russian Guard allegedly received injuries, in which “pieces of frozen snow were“ marking. ” On January 20, these criminal cases were united.

The OVD-Info lawyer Eva Levenberg says that by the end of May it became known about 82 defendants in the Baymka case: among them there are only three women, the rest are men. All defendants are accused under an article on the riots (Article 212 of the Criminal Code), but some participants are also additionally charged with the use of violence against a representative of the authorities (part 1 of Article 318 of the Criminal Code). 71 people, according to Levenberg, are now in a pre -trial detention center, five on the wanted list, one under house arrest, where there are three more are unknown, two are dead.

According to lawyers who work with the OVD-Info, the detention of people in Bashkortostan is still ongoing, and the real number of the defendants in Baymak business is already about 100 .

“The authorities demonstrate an unprecedented speed in the investigation of such a case: the accused and their defenders, after only four months, are notified of the end of the investigation and the opportunity to get acquainted with the materials. At the same time, lawyers say that the trial will be carried out sequentially: all the accused will be divided into small groups and will transfer one group to the court after another. Until the final decision on one group is made, the consideration of the other will not be started, ”says Eve LEENBERG.

A group of 33 investigators from Bashkortostan, Altai Territory, Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow works on Baymak. The group is headed by the colonel of justice Igor Khovansky.

Hard detention, death and coma

The detainees in the Baymak case repeatedly talked about beatings and cruelty from the security forces.

On January 26, news appeared about the death of one of the participants in Rifat Dautov rallies. His sister says that Dautov did not participate in the shares, but one day stood next to the square on which the popular gathering passed and left there before the start of protests. Dautov was detained on January 25, when he walked around the city, seated in a car zak and took away. After that, there were reports that he died.

Dautov’s sister Zagalia told the “cold” that the family has not yet been reported about the cause of the death of Rifat. Family lawyer Dautov says that the case on the fact of death “walks in a circle” between two law enforcement agencies.

“The UK refuses to initiate a criminal case, the prosecutor's office returns the case back to the UK - so this case goes between these instances in a circle. Recently, we sent an appeal to the head of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin. If there will be no official information about the causes of death and the initiation of a criminal case, we turn to Bastrykin again, ”lawyer Pavel Vasiliev says to the cold.

Dautov’s sister Zagali in a conversation with the “cold” said that the men called “an accident” unofficially, and the version that Dautov allegedly died as a result of alcohol poisoning was distributed in the regional media and telegram channels. At the same time, relatives and acquaintances of Rifat Dautov claimed that he had never consumed alcohol.

Almost simultaneously with the news of the sudden death of Rifat Dautov, there were reports that the other detainee-Dim Davletkildin-was hospitalized due to a spinal fracture. Relatives of Davletkildin stated that the security forces beat him, trying to knock out the “necessary” testimonies.

On February 15, a month after the protests, the news appeared that another of the defendants in Baymak business - Minniyar Baiguskarov - committed suicide. The members of the support group arrested in Bashkortostan reported that Baiguskarova "beat so much that he had abrasions and problems with the kidneys and urination began." According to them, they demanded to write a denunciation from Baiguskarov, but he refused.

On May 5, it became known that the Zaki Ilyasov, another person involved in Baimak, fell into a day in a coma after he was detained by security forces. As the media wrote , it was detained at 06:40 a.m. on April 24, and already at 07:48 he was brought to the hospital with “right -sided pneumothorax, left -sided hemotorax, infiltrative changes in the lung, chest bruise, edema and hypertension in the place of fracture of the ribs and cutting wound of the lower third of the left forearm.”

Ilyasova’s daughter reported that the doctors connected her father to artificial lung ventilation. He came into consciousness on April 26. After only two days he was sent to a pre -trial detention center.

Criminal cases for throwing snowballs

The materials of the case, the details of which with the “cold” shared “OVD-Info”, stated that three accused were “shown” among the residents of the republic who were disagreed with the case against Fail Alsynov and offered to participate in “organizing riots near the court building”, “instructing them and methods of provoking the use of violence”. The OVD-Info Lawyer Eva Levenberg says that the term “shifted” is most often used by security forces to indicate that the crime tools were prepared in advance, but in the materials of Baymak case the phrase was also used to denote an accidentally found club.

Later, according to the materials of the case, the protesters “brought the means of communication between the radio station, which were planned to be used to manage and coordinate the actions of the participants in the riots, the means of personal disguise - hats and high scarves that hide faces and complicate identification, aerosol cylings with tear gas”.

From the materials of "Baymak business":

“Applying and throwing stones at the police, metal rods and wooden sticks took part in the riots. He struck the right forearm and right temporal region with a shaped rubber stick. ”

“At least five times threw large pieces of snow into the combat construction of police officers.”

“He pushed the police officer with his hands and threw it in him, similar to the helmet of a law enforcement officer, inflicted at least one hit with his hands in the police officer and a foot with his foot on the policeman’s leg.”

“He threw a snowball twice, carried out the general management of the participants.”

At the same time, the participants in the folk gatherings in defense of Fail Alsynov claimed that they saw on the shares of provocateurs who were the first to throw snowballs into the security forces, provoking their clashes with the protesters. The regional telegram channel "Pravda Bashkiria" said that he identified one of the provocateurs from the photo is Sergey Sapozhnikov, who participated in hostilities in Ukraine. In Ukraine, he is accused of murder and robbery, he is put on an international wanted list.

Eva Levenberg says that the defendants in the Baymak case also informed their defenders that they saw law enforcement officers in civilian clothes, who were the first to throw snow from behind the back of the security forces.

The accused in the Baymak case threatens up to 20 years in prison: those who are charged with the organization of riots in conjunction with an article on the use of violence in relation to security forces can be obtained as long. Some defendants are presented only to participation in the riots - they face up to eight years in prison.