Severe verdict to leaders of Ingush protests angers journalists and political analysts

Seven protest leaders in Ingushetia have been demonstratively sentenced to long prison terms for the peaceful protest, where they called not to admit unrests, Russian journalists and political analysts assert.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 15, the court in Yessentuki satisfied the prosecutor's demands to sentence Akhmed Barakhoev, Musa Malsagov and Malsag Uzhakhov to nine years in prison; Ismail Nalgiev, Bagaudin Khautiev and Barakh Chemurziev – to eight years, and Zarifa Sautieva – to 7.5 years. Their defence had hoped for softer punishments.

In particular, Maxim Shevchenko, a journalist, has pointed out in his YouTube video stream that "the verdict in the Ingush case is striking in its cruelty." There are elderly people, Akhmed Barakhoev and Malsag Uzhakhov, among the convicts, Mr Shevchenko has stressed.

"There are two old people, under 70, and one woman among them – Zarifa Sautieva, a former deputy director of the Museum of Victims of Political Repressions. The protests were very loud; almost a fifth of the population of the small republic took part in them," Dmitry Kolezev, a journalist, wrote in his Telegram channel.

The verdict on the Ingush activists is "a sort of a signal", Mikhail Vinogradov, a political analyst, has commented on the court's judgement. "Possibly, it is a sort of a curtsey to the authorities of the Ingushetia's neighbouring Chechen Republic," Mr Vinogradov said on air of the "Ekho Moskvy" Radio.