In Magas, court re-fines Mufti of Ingushetia

The Magas District Court recognized Isa Khamkhoev, the former head of the Spiritual Centre of Muslims of Ingushetia, as a violator of the procedure of organizing and holding a meeting and imposed another fine of 10,000 roubles on him, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) “Memorial”* reports today.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that the court fined Mufti of Ingushetia Isa Khamkhoev 10,000 roubles for holding a meeting, participants of which requested the Russian President to mitigate the pre-trial restriction measure against the leaders of the protests in Magas.

On August 10, 2020, the election of a new mufti were held in the Spiritual Centre of Muslims, and 67 people attended the meeting. The judge recognised Isa Khamkhoev the actual leader and decided that while organizing a public event, he should have notified the authorities about its holding. Isa Khamkhoev was elected the Mufti of Ingushetia. A district police inspector and later the court named Isa Khamkhoev himself the organizer of the event, although at the time of the election, Mukhamad Khashtyrov was the acting Mufti, the HRC “Memorial”* reports on its website today.

The number of participants in the event did not exceed 100 people, which made it possible to hold the meeting without notification, the HRC “Memorial”* quotes in its press release advocate Magomed-Basir Ozdoev, who represented the interests of Isa Khamkhoev in court, as saying.

However, the judge pronounced the decision that Isa Khamkhoev violated the Law “On Assemblies, Rallies, Demonstrations, Processions and Picketing”.

* The organization is included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in the “Register of non-profit organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent”.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 30, 2021 at 11:52 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.