Zarifa Sautieva

Zarifa Mukharbekovna Sautieva (born 1 May 1978) is a museum director and political activist from Ingushetia. She was dismissed by the Russian government because of her protests about changes to the border between Chechnya and Ingushetia, and subsequently imprisoned.

Biography

Sautieva was born on 1 May 1978. During her childhood, she loved to read. Her family includes two sisters and one brother. She was particularly gifted in her museum work at community engagement.

Activism Sautieva was arrested on 27 March 2019 in Magas by police, following clashes with protesters. Although Sautieva used social media to record protests, recordings from March 2019 show her calling other protesters to order. She is the only woman to have been detained. She has been detained at a centre in Nalchik in Kabardino-Balkaria. When asked to give a handwriting sample during detention, she wrote out a poem by Osip Mandelstam. On 26 January, a complaint was filed by lawyers from the Human Rights Centre in Ingushetia with the European Court of Human Rights regarding the conviction. On 27 March, an open letter signed by over 170 people called for her release. This campaign was initiated by fellow activist Leyla Gazdiyeva. As of March 2020, her trial was due to take place in private, and her family were barred from visiting her. The Council of Europe regards her, and her fellow activists, as political prisoners held by the state.