Chair of republic-wide people’s council becomes latest opposition elder arrested in Ingushetia

Malsag Uzhakhov, the chair of Ingushetia’s Council of Teips, has been arrested in the republic’s Nazran district, Mediazona reported. Uzhakhov’s son said that a group of armed individuals took his father away in an unmarked vehicle.

When his son asked where Uzhakhov would be transported, the officers answered, “To the committee.” Ruslan Uzhakhov said they did not say which agency they represented and did not show him any documents. Uzhakhov’s attorney, Jabrail Kuriev, told Mediazona that his client may have been taken to the Investigative Committee office in Nalchik.

Protesters and experts who have followed the situation in Ingushetia have expressed concerns that continued arrests of older, more experienced opposition leaders will leave younger, less restrained activists unchecked while removing a key source of dialogue between protesters and government officials.