"Angusht' newspaper editor in Ingushetia intends to appeal against actions of power authorities in prosecutor's office

Murat Oziev, chief editor of the public educational newspaper "Angusht", intends to appeal against the actions of the power authorities who conducted a search in his house.

He has reported this to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. According to Oziev, the searches in his house, including the confiscation of the "Angusht" newspaper issues, have been conducted without due sanctions and permits. Oziev considers the action by the power authorities as "violation of the inviolability of one's home and hindering journalists' activity" and in the near future intends to complain against this to the Prosecutor's Office.

For reference, on Tuesday February 21, officers of Nazran town internal affairs department stormed the house in Mutaliev Street, 45 in Nasyr-Kort municipal district where the newspaper "Angusht" editorial office is located. In the course of the search, militiamen confiscated all remaining copies of the last editions. More that 300 copies in total. Oziev himself was at the hospital at that moment.

"This is not the first case when pressure is exerted on the newspaper. Some time ago they tried to oust us from the office, confiscated the printing machine, for more than a year now they prohibit our newspaper to be sold in newspaper stalls. Now, this attack. I think that the actions of the power authorities in my house grossly violate the RF law because searches in private houses may not be conducted in the absence of a criminal case or without a prosecutor's sanction. I intend to complain about it to the Prosecutor's office in the near future," he noted in an interview to the "Caucasian Knot."

The law enforcement bodies of Ingushetia refuse to give comments on the incidents. Meanwhile, as the "Inform Bureau" reports, a source at the Ingushetia MIA says that, on that day, "searches were conducted not only in the house where "Angusht" newspaper copies were stored, but also at other addresses in order to check operational information on illegal printing of leaflets calling for mass disorders on the eve of February 23."

The public educational newspaper "Angusht" has been issued from 2000. Today, it is the only oppositional publication which affords critics of the current Republic's leadership. Due to financial problems, the newspaper publication was suspended from April last year. At the beginning of this year, the editor managed to issue two editions of the newspaper. Murat Oziev, a journalist who is well-known in the republic, is the newspaper founder and chief editor. He used to be deputy of the National Assembly of Ingushetia and belongs to "old time" Ingush intellectuals". He was the first to raise the problem of the Prigorodny district early in the 1990's.