Activists condemn Elista Mayoralty for refusing to sanction action against justification of Kalmyks' deportation

The Elista Mayoralty has refused to sanction a rally demanding to bring to justice Vladimir Shtygashev, the Speaker of the Khakassian Parliament, for his words about the Stalinist deportation of Kalmyks. The organizers of the action would not agree with officials' arguments.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that three residents of Kalmykia, including Valery Badmaev, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Modern Kalmykia", asked the Prosecutor's Office to check Shtygashev's statements about the Stalinist deportation of Kalmyks.

A notification about the rally scheduled for February 10 at the Seven Days Pagoda was submitted on January 30, but on the following day, the Mayoralty refused to sanction it, citing the fact that the authorized representative – Batyr Boromangnaev, the head of the Kalmyk branch of the "Yabloko" Party – was held administratively liable twice within a year, Valery Badmaev told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"However, the Mayoralty has neglected the fact that I, Valery Badmaev, was the organizer of the rally, and, unlike Boromangnaev, I have no restrictions on submitting notifications. Therefore, the Mayoralty's refusal is legally unjustified. I wrote about this on February 3 in my response to the Mayoralty's letter," Mr Badmaev has added.

According to his story, "in the same evening", on February 3, he received another letter from the Mayoralty of Elista, stating that in connection with the influenza epidemic in the city, a ban was introduced on holding mass events since February 1 until a special order.

"I was offered to change the date and place of the rally, referring to the fact that in Elista there is the only place for public events – Victory Square in the Druzhba Park. But all this is complete nonsense. Quarantine does not apply to streets and squares," Valery Badmaev has concluded.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 8, 2020 at 10:10 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.