Bagaudin Khautiev calls case against Ingush activists a falsification

In his final speech delivered at the Yessentuki City Court, activist Bagaudin Khautiev has pointed out that the case on an extremist community is a falsification and provocation against the Ingush people. According to Bagaudin Khautiev, all the guilt of the defendants is that they simply went out to defend their rights and interests.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that since November 2020, a court in the Stavropol Territory has been considering the case against the leaders of the protest in Ingushetia, who are accused of creating an extremist community.

Today, the Ingush activists have delivered their final speeches at the Yessentuki City Court, the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent reports.

During the course of the judicial investigation that lasted for almost a year, the very Prosecutor’s Office should have understood that the case was “an open and blatant falsification,” Bagaudin Khautiev said.

He believes the Prosecutor’s Office “was failing” during the whole year. “It was a real shame, which they themselves supported. And, as I think, it was a provocation not only against us ... it was a provocation against the whole Ingush people,” Bagaudin Khautiev noted.

He emphasizes that “their entire fault lies in the fact that they just went out to defend their rights and interests.” According to Bagaudin Khautiev, he was asked many times to plead guilty, at least partially. “But we will never admit what we didn’t do, because honest, decent people should not take the blame for what they didn’t do,” he concluded.

Bagaudin Khautiev refused to plead guilty and pointed to the lack of real evidence in the indictment.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 23, 2021 at 02:50 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.