Court finds two months of Zarifa Sautieva's arrest illegal

The Court of Cassation in the Stavropol Territory has recognized that the Ingush activist Zarifa Sautieva was kept in custody from September 12 to December 11, 2019, for no good reason.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Zarifa Sautieva has been under arrest since July 2019. On July 8, 2020, the Stavropol Territorial Court granted the investigators' motion and extended her detention until September 25. Her arrest was extended under the pretext of her need to study the case materials, but the investigators have failed to provide her with new materials for two months already, her advocate has stated.

The Fifth Cassation Court has ruled that Sautieva's detention from September 12 to December 11, 2019, was illegal, her advocate, Bilan Dzugaev, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"The state has finally admitted that the woman had been illegally imprisoned for two months. True, to prove this, it took us more than six months; and all this time she was in custody, and even now they are not going to release her," Mr Dzugaev has stated.

He does not rule out that he will seek monetary compensation in connection with the cancellation of the court orders to extend his client's detention. "Maybe in the future we'll receive some monetary compensation for this, but who will return the part of her life that she spent in jail?" the advocate has asked rhetorically.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 16, 2020 at 02:56 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.