In front of the Baymaksky District Court of Bashkortostan, where today one of the last hearings took place in the case of the defender of the Kushtau Shikhan Fail Alsynov (Alchinova), hundreds of people gathered to support the activist. The action was broadcast by the Kushtau Bayram telegram channel and the RusNews publication.
According to Kushtau Bayram estimates, about five thousand people came to court today: half of them were on the street and about the same number — in cars. In the video from the street it is difficult to count the number of people, but they occupy all the space.
Those gathered chanted: “Freedom for Fail Alsynov!”, “Azatlyk!” (“Freedom!”), “Fail, we are with you!”, “Beҙ — ҡara halyҡ”! (“We are simple people!”), “There will be more of us!” Individual pickets also came out in support of Alsynov. “Kushtau Bayram” published a photo of a woman with a poster “Freedom for Alsynov” in three languages.
«We are the defenders of Kushtau.» A brief history of the protests on the Shikhan in Bashkortostan, which (so far) ended in victory for local residents
Alsynov is accused of inciting hatred or enmity (Part 1 of Article 282 of the Criminal Code). According to investigators, in April last year Alsynov “made a speech in the Bashkir language, containing statements in which groups of people were negatively assessed … — “residents of the Caucasus”, “Central Asia”, “Armenians”, as well as humiliation of their humanity dignity,” reported by “Idel.Realii.”
The state prosecution requested that defense attorney Kushtai be sentenced to four years in prison in a penal colony. The sentencing is scheduled for January 17.
Shortly before the speech that formed the basis of the criminal case, in March 2023, security forces came to Alsynov and another activist Ilnar Galin with searches. They were both chairmen of the Bashkort organization, which was recognized as extremist in 2020. The court banned its activities in Russia.
Shikhan Kushtau is one of four shihans located in Bashkortostan near the cities of Sterlitamak and Ishimbay, these are the remains of reefs of ancient seas. Now there are only three such single mountains left — Toratau, Yuktau and Kushtau itself. Shikhan Shakhtau began to be developed back in the 1950s, the mountain was completely razed.
In 2020, they wanted to transfer Shikhan Kushtau to the Bashkir Soda Company for the development of a limestone deposit for soda production. This caused outrage among local residents and led to mass protests. After the protests, many activists who spoke out in defense of Kushtau were brought to administrative and criminal charges.