Council of Teips members claim in court about provocations at rally in Magas

At the session of the court that considers the so-called "Ingush case", members of the Ingush Council of Teips (family clans) have testified that at the rally held in Magas in March 2019, young people were provoked to use violence, while the defendants tried to calm them down.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the case of seven Ingush protest leaders, accused of creating an extremist community, is being considered by a court in the Stavropol Territory since November 24, 2020.

At its August 3 session, the Kislovodsk City Court listened to the defence witnesses – nine persons, all being members of the Council of Teips of the Republic of Ingushetia, Aralbek Dumanishev, an advocate, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"Like our clients, they all took part in the rally on March 26 and eyewitnessed all the events. At the trial, they said that our clients had organized no violence against law enforcers, and that they hadn't created any extremist community," Mr Dumanishev has stated.

"The witnesses have explained that the republic's authorities, including law enforcement bodies, did everything possible to provoke the people in the square to take any action," Djabrail Kuriev, another advocate, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. And they in fact managed to entice young people to action. The witnesses explained that no one directed people's actions; on the contrary, the defendants urged them to calm down and not succumb to provocations."

"All the witnesses said that they were in the immediate vicinity of Malsag Uzhakhov, Akhmed Barakhoev and others, and in fact, thanks to them and to their calls, as well as the calls of other elders, they managed to prevent more serious consequences. And all the witnesses unanimously asserted that it was a pure provocation on the part of law enforcers and the then authorities of the republic," Mr Kuriev has emphasized.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 4, 2021 at 03:20 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.