Svetlana Gannushkina supports arrested Ingush elder Akhmed Barakhoev

Svetlana Gannushkina, the head of the Civil Assistance Committee, talked on the phone with the activist Barakhoev, who has been holding his hunger strike for a week already at the Nalchik SIZO (pre-trial prison); Svetlana is ready to come to Ingushetia.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 4, the Ingush elder, Akhmed Barakhoev, who is serving his administrative arrest at the Nalchik SIZO, went on a hunger strike demanding a meeting with Mikhail Fedotov, the adviser to Russian president on civil society development and human rights, and Svetlana Gannushkina, the head of the Civil Assistance Committee.

In the afternoon of April 10, Ms Gannushkina talked with Akhmed Barakhoev by phone. They discussed the criminal cases instituted against Ingush activists after the attempt to violently disperse the rally on March 27.

"He said that he was outraged by the criminal cases. I support him, and I believe that using force in this situation was wrong. Unfortunately, people succumbed to a provocation; and the consequences are beneficial to a third party," Ms Gannushkina told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

She intends to visit Barakhoev after his release, and is planning her trip to Ingushetia after April 20.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 11, 2019 at 03:04 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.