20:59, 25 October 2018

Rights defenders express concern over Ramzan Kadyrov's call to Ingush Elder

Ramzan Kadyrov. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Sinyakov

A visit of Ramzan Kadyrov's representatives to the Ingush village and the call of Elder Akhmed Barakhoev to the Sharia court could provoke interethnic conflict between the Ingush and Chechen people, suggest Irina Starodubrovskaya and Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 24, on behalf of Ramzan Kadyrov, Magomed Daudov, Speaker of the Chechen parliament, arrived in the Ingush village of Novy Redant and summoned Elder Akhmed Barakhoev to the Sharia court because of his statement voiced at the rally in Magas. Akhmed Barakhoev did not refuse the Sharia court, but refused to come to Ramzan Kadyrov, the "Glavkom RI" Telegram Channel reports.

On October 16, Ramzan Kadyrov promised to "ask" from one of the leaders of the protest in Ingushetia, a former Interior Minister Akhmed Pogorov, for a number of statements made by him at a rally and addressed to Kadyrov. Akhmed Barakhoev, a member of the organizing committee of the rally, answered to Kadyrov by inviting him to come and personally express his claims to Pogorov and his associates. "I told your Daudov at the meeting with Matovnikov that your manner of knocking on the table with your fist will not work here," Mr Barakhoev said during the protest rally.

On her Facebook page, Irina Starodubrovskaya, the head of the "Political Economy and Regional Development" programme at the Egor Gaidar Economic Policy Institute, responded to the Ramzan Kadyrov's call to the Sharia court.

"The situation acquires a strange format. There is a feeling that Ramzan Kadyrov does no longer understand that Ingushetia is not Chechnya, and no one here is going to stand up at attention for any of his words. The question is how he will react when he understands that," Irina Starodubrovskaya wrote.

During a "next night visit" of Ramzan Kadyrov or his representatives to the Elders in Ingushetia, in response to which "hundreds of young Ingush men will mobilize to defend the old people, someone will be not able to control his nerves," Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, Director at Conflict Analysis and Prevention Centre, shared her fear on her Facebook page.

"There will be a provocation with extremely serious consequences. Up to an interethnic conflict. I wonder if I am the only person who has got such concerns?" the rights defender wondered.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 25, 2018 at 05:04 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.