Zarifa Sautieva claims that investigators have no proofs

At a session of the Yessentuki City Court, where her custody was extended by three months, Zarifa Sautieva, an Ingush activist, stated that investigators had no proofs of her guilt in the use of violence against a state official and participation in an extremist community.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Zarifa Sautieva is under arrest since July 2019. She is charged with complicity in using violence against law enforcers in Magas. On March 6, at a behind-the-doors session, the court extended her detention until June 11, 2020.

During the session, the investigator, Feiz Gafarov, stated that Zarifa Sautieva is charged with grave crimes; and there are no grounds to cancel her custody.

In his turn, Bilan Dzugaev, an advocate, objected to the custody extension motion. In particular, he indicated that investigative actions were not conducted on time; and the preliminary investigation was organized inefficiently.

However, the court granted the investigator's motion.

The advocate also said that the investigator submitted witnesses' interrogations to the session. "Interrogations of several witnesses were presented; most of them were secret witnesses. We asked questions on those place in interrogations, where the witnesses claimed that Sautieva had committed a particular crime. However, their testimonies mainly concerned the socio-political situation in the republic and failed to prove that she was involved in any crimes. Zarifa herself stated this to the court," said Bilan Dzugaev.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 7, 2020 at 05:33 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.