Akhmed Barakhoev stops his hunger strike

For the first time in ten days, Akhmed Barakhoev, the arrested Ingush elder, agreed to eat. He was persuaded to stop his hunger strike by Kabardino-Balkarian Ombudsperson, said his advocate.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 13, the administrative arrests in Nalchik of three Ingush protest leaders, Akhmed Barakhoev, Musa Malsagov and Barakh Chemurziev, ended. However, none of them was released from the Nalchik IVS (temporary detention centre). All the three activists were detained under newly initiated criminal cases.

Despite the entreaties of his relatives and rights defenders, since April 4, Barakhoev was on a hunger strike at the IVS.

Today, Akhmed Barakhoev took some food, said his advocate, Fatima Urusova.

According to her story, Boris Zumakulov, the Ombudsperson of Kabardino-Balkaria, persuaded Barakhoev to stop his hunger strike. "Akhmed listened to the request of the elder and stopped his protest action," Ms Urusova has explained, adding that the initiation of a criminal case was no surprise for Akhmed Barakhoev. "He expected this, as he treats his persecution as politically motivated," said the advocate.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 13, 2019 at 03:15 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.