12:18, 9 March 2019

Missing Ingush student found in Egyptian prison

The office of the Ingush Ombudsperson man for human rights in Ingushetia has received information about Khizir Dugiev, whose fate was unknown for more than six months, after he was detained in Egypt. According to the Ombudsperson, the young man is in a Cairo prison.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that five young people from Ingushetia were detained in Egypt in August 2018, but it was only on February 2, 2019, that the information was confirmed that four of them were in prison. Parents of three students managed to meet them in Cairo. Relatives of those arrested have doubted Yunus-Bek Evkurov's statement about imminent extradition of the young people, and expressed fears that they would be persecuted in their homeland.

All the five went to Egypt without the knowledge of their parents and studied in Cairo at the mosques, the head of Ingushetia said. Four detainees are suspected of extremism, and the fifth one, a resident of Ingushetia, – of recruiting people into the ranks of militants.

At interrogations, Egyptian investigators were especially interested in Dugiev; they asked when he had arrived in Egypt, what he did, whom he met, said Khadishat Pugoeva, the wife of the detainee Ilez Aushev. According to her story, Dugiev was shadowed.

In late February, the head of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Evkurov, suggested that Dugiev was a recruiter.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 9, 2019 at 03:48 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.