YouTube users treat appeal to Putin in support of Ingush activists as senseless

Salman Geroev, a Kazakhstani public figure of Ingush origin, has called on the Russian president "not to be an enemy of the Ingush people" and to intervene in the situation with the verdicts rendered to seven Ingush activists. The verdicts were passed with authorities' awareness, while an appeal to Putin is doomed to failure in advance, commentators on the YouTube have noted.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 15, the court sentenced 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 seven years and six months of imprisonment. The verdicts also triggered protests – on December 17, a resident of Ingushetia, Isa Bekov, was detained during his solo picket.

The verdicts were passed to "the best representatives of the Ingush people," Salman Geroev said in a video message posted on the Ruslan Ruslan YouTube channel. He has treated the charges of creating an extremist organization as "an outrageous lie", and the verdicts as passed "without any grounds, with violations of human rights."

He has also recalled the Stalinist deportation of Ingushes and called the silence of the Ingush government to be "incomprehensible".

The author of the video message is an 83-year-old native of the Prigorodny District of Ingushetia, a public figure of Kazakhstan, the "Fortanga" outlet has explained on its Telegram channel.

Mukhmad Tsoroev, a user, has noted that Putin had ignored the problem.

Other commentators stressed the unfairness of the verdicts.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 18, 2021 at 06:04 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.