Witnesses name law enforcers as perpetrators of riots in Magas

All the witnesses questioned by the court on August 25 called the clashes at the protest action in Magas to be the result of law enforcers' provocative actions. Ingush activists, according to witnesses, tried to prevent clashes.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the case of seven Ingush protest leaders, accused of creating an extremist community, has been considered by the court since November 2020. A number of prosecution witnesses, including law enforcers, have evidenced that the defendants did not provoke activists, but, on the contrary, urged them not to enter into confrontation with law enforcers.

On Wednesday (August 25), 11 defence witnesses were questioned; the court also granted the defence's motion to add the proof in the form of a TV report to the case files, Magomed Bekov, an advocate, has informed. As follows from the report, after the rally on March 26-27, 2019, Yunus-Bek Evkurov, the then head of Ingushetia, instructed Secretary of the republic's Security Council to place all the leaders of protests behind bars.

The advocate has noted that the head of a Russian subject has no right to give such instructions, same as the Security Council Secretary.

The law allows people to defend themselves if law enforcers commit illegal actions, Mr Bekov has emphasized.