Lawyers find Constitutional Court of Ingushetia undesirable for regional authorities

An attempt to abolish the Constitutional Court of Ingushetia is a political step that can lead to a favourable environment for corruption, the experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 22, the People's Assembly of Ingushetia refused to consider the draft law on the abolition of the republic's Constitutional Court proposed by the head of the republic, Makhmud-Ali Kalimatov. The Council of Teips (family clans) has recalled that the Constitutional Court of Ingushetia was the only authority that opposed the border agreement with Chechnya.

Ruslan Mutsolgov, a lawyer with the human rights organization "Mashr", believes that the attempt to abolish the Constitutional Court is a political step. "After reading the bill, I was sure that the adoption thereof would create conditions for the weakening of the judicial branch of power and the final loss of control over the legislative and executive branches. And this environment is the most favourable for corruption manifestations," Ruslan Mutsolgov has stated.

The leadership of Ingushetia intends to eliminate this court because they dislike some of its decisions, while there are no legal ground for such a step, Tamara Morschakova, a retired deputy of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, believes.

"Leaders of some Russian regions, including the Republic of Ingushetia, don't like some decisions of such courts. In Saint Petersburg, this court has already been removed, remade from a court into some kind of council; such court was created in Irkutsk and immediately disbanded. The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Ingushetia is also an internal controller on the issue of changing the borders of Ingush-Chechen border. The leadership wants to remove the Constitutional Court, having no legal basis for that," Ms Morschakova has stated.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 30, 2020 at 08:00 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.