Malsag Uzhakhov treats case against Ingush activists as farce

The criminal prosecution of Ingush activists within the case of the extremist community was ordered and falsified, one of the defendants, Malsag Uzhakhov, said in his last plea.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the court in the Stavropol Territory has been considering the case since November 2020 against the leaders of protests in Ingushetia, who are accused of creating an extremist community. The prosecution has demanded to sentence Akhmed Barakhoev, Musa Malsagov and Malsag Uzhakhov to nine years in prison each; and Ismail Nalgiev, Bagaudin Khautiev and Barakh Chemurziev – to eight years in prison each. As for Zarifa Sautieva, the prosecutor asked the court to sentence her to 7.5 years in prison.

While presenting his last plea at the travelling session of the Kislovodsk City Court that was held in the city of Yessentuki, Malsag Uzhakhov stressed that the case had been falsified. "This case is a pure farce, concocted at the direction of the federal centre by an investigative team consisting of more than fifty people. It was concocted crookedly and askew; they weren't even bothered to search for proofs," Mr Uzhakhov has stated.

Prosecutors also "wouldn't hear and listen to anything, as they are targeted at a result preset from above," the defendant has stated.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 6, 2021 at 08:04 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.