After arson in "Memorial" office, Evkurov confined himself to promises (+video)

Yunus-Bek Evkurov, the head of Ingushetia, who met officials of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" after the fire in the HRC's office in Nazran, promised rights defenders "all possible assistance of law enforcement bodies in investigating the arson," but offered no personal help, Timur Akiev, the head of the Ingush representative office of the HRC "Memorial", has stated.

"Maybe later something will be offered, but so far no one has offered us any help, including the provision of some new premises. So far, we haven't asked anything from anyone," Mr Akiev said.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that last night, a fire broke out in the office of the HRC "Memorial". According to records from a video surveillance camera, the office was set on fire by two unidentified people, Oleg Orlov reported. The rights defenders treated the attack on the office as a terror act.

According to Mr Akiev, during the meeting Mr Evkurov "did not rule out different versions, including an attempt to discredit the local power by so far unidentified forces."

The previous attack on the rights defenders' office in Ingushetia was committed on March 9, 2016, when armed men, who had arrived, according to the source, in cars with Chechen number plates, attacked the office of the United Mobile Group (UMG) of rights defenders in the city of Karabulak shortly after the attack earlier on same day on the Ingush-Chechen border on the UMG's minivan. In that attack, nine rights defenders and foreign journalists were injured. The attackers have never been established.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.