Kabardino-Balkarian court leaves Zarifa Sautieva under arrest

Today, the Supreme Court (SC) of Kabardino-Balkaria has dismissed a complaint filed by Ingush activist Zarifa Sautieva about her arrest.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 12, Zarifa Sautieva was detained, and since July 15, she has been kept under arrest in Nalchik. On July 20, the defence of Zarifa Sautieva filed a complaint about her arrest.

At the today's hearing, the Supreme Court of Kabardino-Balkaria has upheld the decision of the Nalchik City Court on the arrest of Zarifa Sautieva until September 11. The trial was attended by relatives of Zarifa Sautieva, as well as activists from Kabardino-Balkaria, Ingushetia, and North Ossetia, reported the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent who attended the trial.

Zarifa Sautieva took part in the court hearing via videoconferencing and stated that she had learned about the hearing just several minutes before it began. In her speech, Zarifa Sautieva said that for her, it was "hard to stay in such conditions."

During the trial, the defence pointed to the illegitimate arrest of the activist because of the unjustified suspicions, reported Bilan Dzugaev, an advocate of Zarifa Sautieva.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 1, 2019 at 03:14 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.