Opposition tries to sue Ingush leader and CEC Chairman at spiritual court

A complaint signed by ten members of the Mekhk-Kkhel (Board of Elders) was received to the name of the head of the Sharia Court (Kadi) under the Muftiyat of Ingushetia. It demands to bring to justice under the Sharia laws Yunus-Bek Evkurov, the leader of Ingushetia, and Musa Evloev, the head of the Republic's Central Election Commission (CEC), who, according to the signers, are guilty of falsification of the election results.

In particular, the complaint argues that at the elections in Ingushetia, the law on basic guarantees of electoral rights of citizens was grossly violated.

Magomed Khazbiev, the Ingush oppositional activist, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about the difficulties, which observers from media met while they worked at the electoral precincts. According to him, observers were forced to leave electoral precincts, and the actual turnout was low.

"We believe we have irrefutable facts of falsification of the results of the recent elections. And we are convinced that those violations were committed on direct order from the republic's leader Yunus-Bek Evkurov, who was interested to show the Kremlin good results of voting in favour of the ruling party," stated Magomed Khazbiev after summarizing the results.

"According to our observers, the turnout did not exceed 15 percent, the authorities reported on 86 percent. The observers, including public correspondents from the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta", recorded numerous facts of ballot box stuffing; however, the Election Commission did not accept our complaints," said Magomed Khazbiev. According to him, appealing to the court would have no sense, since "judges are willing to defend only the authorities' interests."

The opposition activists decided to appeal to the head of the Sharia Court (Kadi) under Muftiyat of Ingushetia. Abdurakhman Martazanov, the head of the Sharia Court, appointed hearing for December 20. The opposition activists will have to ensure presence of defendants by themselves, the "Kommersant" reports.

Musa Evloev, the head of the Ingushetian CEC, commented on accusations of the opposition. "I know about the initiative of those people; however, I do not want to say anything about that," stated Musa Evloev. He added that the Election Commission was ready to consider any complaints; however, no one appealed with any complaints, since "there was no reason for that." Musa Evloev called the very situation "nonsense" and "stupidity".

At the same time, during the first plenary session, the Ingushetian leader Yunus-Bek Evkurov has emphasized that the completed three-level elections were "the real test of political maturity" for the Ingushetian people. According to him, the elections were held without any provocations and illegal actions in the pre-election campaign, the "Interfax" reports.

Comments of Yunus-Bek Evkurov and his representatives on the opposition's appeal to the Sharia Court are still not available.

In his turn, a representative of the Supreme Court of Ingushetia has stated that the decision of the Sharia Court, whatever it would be, will have no legal consequences.