Zarifa Sautieva

Memorial-Nazran, where Sautieva worked prior to dismissal

Sautieva was born on 1 May 1978.[1] During her childhood she loved to read.[2] Her family includes two sisters and one brother.[2] She has a university degree and lived in Sunzha in the Republic of Ingushetia.[1] She is a member of the Ingush Committee of the National Unity.[1] Until November 2018 she was deputy director of the Memorial of Memory and Glory in Nazran, Ingushetia.[3][4][5] She was particularly gifted in her museum work at community engagement.[2] She was dismissed by the Russian government from her post as a response to her involvement in protests against changes to the border between Chechnya and Ingushetia.[3][6]

Sautieva was arrested on 27 March 2019 in Magas by police, after clashes with protesters.[1] It is alleged that the protesters threw sticks, chairs and fences at police, after attempts were made to disperse the protest.[7] Whilst Sautieva used social media to record protests, the recordings from March 2019 show her calling other protesters to order.[2]

Sautieva was one of 33 people detained as a response to their role in the protests against the border.[8] She is the only woman to be detained.[8] She has been held in custody since 12 July 2019.[1][9] She has been detained at a centre in Nalchik in Kabardino-Balkaria.[4] She has claimed that whilst in detention, she and other protesters, are victims of psychological torture and physical violence.[10] When asked to give a sample of handwriting during detention, she wrote out a poem by Osip Mandelstam.[2]

On 15/16 January 2020, Sautieva and other protesters were charged with participation in an extremist community.[11] On 26 January a complaint was filed by lawyers from the Human Rights Centre in Ingushetia to the European Court of Human Rights about the conviction.[12] On 27 March an open letter, signed by over 170 people, called for her release.[13] This campaign was begun by fellow activist Leyla Gazdiyeva.[14] As of March 2020, her trial was due to take place in private, and were family were barred from visiting her.[15] The Council of Europe views her, and her fellow activists, as political prisoners held by the state.[16]