Ingush policeman convicted for refusing to disperse protesters

A court found Magomed Dolgiev, the former employee of the patrol-and-post police service, guilty of failure to comply with an order during a rally in Magas and pronounced a verdict of a suspended sentence.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that in June, an investigation in a case against 12 former policemen accused of failing to comply with the order to disperse protesters in Magas in March 2019 was completed. The case against another law enforcer Magomed Dolgiev was separated. Earlier, all the mentioned policemen unsuccessfully tried to achieve reinstatement through the courts. The law enforcers insist that they got no orders from their chiefs to disperse the rally and that the case on abuse of office was instituted because of their attempts to defend their rights in court. The policemen prevented a clash between law enforcers and protesters and the inevitable bloodshed, note human rights defender Svetlana Gannushkina and Magomed Shamilov, the head of the Dagestani police trade union. The administration of the law enforcement bodies accused those policemen of the aggravation of the political situation, says Mikhail Pavlov, the head of the interregional police trade union.

Today, the court has found Magomed Dolgiev, a 46-year-old former employee of the patrol-and-post police service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Ingushetia, guilty of failure to comply with the order. Meanwhile, the judge ruled out a political motive in the actions of the policeman and concluded that Magomed Dolgiev did not feel sympathy for the protesters and did not feel hostility towards the authorities of Ingushetia. Magomed Dolgiev was sentenced to one and a half years of probation.

As of September 27, according to the Human Rights Centre (HRC) “Memorial”, 40 activists were convicted in the “Ingush case.” The activists are being prosecuted for political reasons with the aim to stop the public criticism of the authorities, the human rights defenders believe.