"Memorial" sends to ECtHR complaints of four protesters in Magas

Murat Bekov, Ilez Barakhoev, Vakha and Ruslan Dzeitov, whose interests are represented by lawyers of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", filed complaints to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) about violations of the rights to personal integrity, fair trial, freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly. This is reported by the HRC "Memorial" on its website on December 16.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 26, residents of Ingushetia extended a protest action in a square in Magas without a sanction from the authorities, and that resulted in clashes with law enforcers on the other day. In early April, the Ingush police began to arrest oppositionists.

The residents of Ingushetia claim that they stayed in a square in Magas on March 27, but when they learned the protest action had not been sanctioned by the authorities, they left the place. However, in April, they were summoned to the law enforcement bodies, where they were questioned and fined 10,000 and 20,000 roubles under Part 5 of Article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses.

The Supreme Court (SC) of Ingushetia dismissed their appeal.

According to the complainants, Article 5 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the right to liberty and security of person) was violated, since the state did not submit a single reason for their detention for a long period exceeding three hours. Besides, according to the residents of the Ingush republic and their advocates, Article 6 of the Convention on Human Rights (the right to a fair trial) was violated, since the public prosecutor did not attend the hearing of the first instance court and the consideration of the appeal, and that fact violated the requirement of independence of the court. Moreover, according to the complainants, Articles 10 and 11 of the Convention on Human Rights (the right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly) were violated, since a participation of a person in an unsanctioned action alone was not a sufficient basis for interference with his or her rights.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 17, 2019 at 02:34 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.