On March 27, 2019, a rally against the change of the administrative border with Chechnya was dispersed in Magas. This was the beginning of repressions against the Ingush opposition. As a result, administrative cases were initiated against hundreds of participants in the popular protest, and criminal cases were initiated against dozens of them.
In December 2021, the Kislovodsk City Court sentenced the following persons to 7.5 to 9 years' imprisonment at a mobile session in Essentuki:
· Malsag Uzhakhov, Chairperson of the Сouncil of the Teips of the Ingush people;
· Akhmed Barakhoyev, member of this Council;
· Zarifa Sautiyeva, former deputy Director of the Republican ‘Memorial Complex of victims of repressions’;
· Mousa Malsagov, Chairperson of the Ingush Office of the Russian Red Cross;
· Ismail Nalgiyev, head of the “Vybor Ingushetii” (Ingushetia’s Choice) organisation which deals with observation during elections;
· Bagaudin Khautiyev, Head of the Ingushetian Council of Youth organisations;
· Barakh Chemurziyev, chairperson of the NGO “Opora Ingushetii” (Pillar of Ingushetia).
They were declared guilty of having used violence against representatives of the authorities (Art. 318 of the Criminal Code), creating an extremist community (Art. 282.1 of the Criminal Code) and participatiing in it.
Malsag Uzhakhov was also convicted for having established an organisation which encourages citizens to commit unlawful acts (part 2 of article 239), and Akhmed Barakhoyev - for his involvement in it (part 3 of article 239 of the Criminal Code).
The case of the eighth participant in the trial, Akhmed Pogorov, co-chairman of the World Congress of the Ingush People, was separated into a new proceeding.
Thirteen lawyers and seven public defenders worked on the case. In their opinion, all the charges were declarative by nature. The words ‘possibly, ‘presumably’, ‘perhaps’ were often used in the indictment, and the word ‘approximately’ was used 11 thousand times.
We described the persecution in detail in the material named ‘One of the most large-scale political cases in the history of Russia’.
On July 28, 2023, the Stavropol Territorial Court in Pyatigorsk confirmed the verdict of the individuals involved in the ‘Ingush case’. During the appeals hearing, the defence managed to prove that the main reason for the criminal prosecution of these men was their popularity and authority in the Ingush society. The court of appeal ignored all the arguments made by the defence and even imposed a tougher sentence in terms of restriction of freedom after serving the sentence: the court changed the boundaries of the convicts' movement from “at the location of stay” to “within the municipal district”.
In January 2024 the defence submitted a complaint against the appeal court's decision and a comment on the trial transcript which contained errors.
On June 7, 2024 Judge Timur Kouadzhe ruled to withdraw the cassation appeal and return the case to the appeal instance.
On June 21, the Fifth Court of Cassation in Pyatigorsk considered the cassation appeal against the sentence of seven Ingush political prisoners at the third attempt and left it without changes.
- Zarifa Sautieva, having served her sentence, was released from the colony on December 28, 2024.
- Bagaudin Khautiev, having served his sentence, was released from the colony on February 4, 2025.
- Barakh Chemurziev, having served his sentence, was released from the colony on February 18, 2025. On July 1, 'Fortanga' reported that Chemurziev will remain under constant police supervision for another eight years.
- Ismail Nalgiev, having served his sentence, was released from the colony on April 1, 2025.
The convicted prisoners are serving their sentences in the following penitentiary institutions:
- Akhmed Barakhoyev in the penal colony No. 1 in Yaroslavl;
- Mousa Malsagov and Malsag Uzhakhov in the penal colony 12 in Volzhsky, Volgograd region.
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