Rights defenders condemn inclusion of the Ingush activist Pogorov into list of extremists and terrorists

The inclusion of the Ingush activist, Akhmed Pogorov, into the list of extremists and terrorists of the "Rosfinmonitoring" (Russian Federal Financial Monitoring Service) at the stage of the prosecution is incorrect and may affect the verdict, human rights defenders believe. The advocates stated a violation of the presumption of innocence.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Akhmed Pogorov, a co-chairman of the World Congress of the Ingush People, was arrested under the case of the clash of activists with law enforcers at the rally in Magas in March 2019.

The inclusion of people into the list of the "Rosfinmonitoring" at the stage of the accusation is completely cutting off their ability to live in a normal society, Svetlana Gannushkina, the chair of the "Civil Assistance" Committee*, has noted.

"Those on the list can't open a bank account and use it for any purpose. This monitoring pushes people onto a wrong path, because it deprives them of a chance to live a normal life," Ms Gannushkina has explained, adding that the inclusion of people into the "Rosfinmonitoring" list is not transparent.

If a person is still under investigation, then including him into the "Rosfinmonitoring" list is at least incorrect, said Igor Kalyapin, the chairman of the Committee against Torture (CaT). In his opinion, other defendants under the case of Ingush protests can also be put on the list.

Roza Magomedova, an advocate, said that in her practice there was an appeal of the widow of a person included into the list of extremists and terrorists of the "Rosfinmonitoring", who faced a problem after his death – she was denied a pension for the loss of the breadwinner after his death.