Musa Malsagov has been released from a prison colony in the Volgograd region.
Ingush public figure Musa Malsagov, sentenced to nine years in the case of protest leaders, was released after serving his full sentence.
As reported by the "Caucasian Knot", in December 2024, Zarifa Sautieva was released from prison, and in February 2025, Bagaudin Khautiev and Barakh Chemurziev were released. On April 1, 2025, Ismail Nalgiev was released, and three of the seven convicted men remained in prison: Musa Malsagov and the elders Akhmed Barakhoev and Malsag Uzhakhov. After their release, Sautieva and Nalgiev celebrated their wedding.
Seven Ingush activists were accused of creating and participating in an extremist community. In December 2021, the court sentenced Akhmed Barakhoev, Musa Malsagov, and Malsag Uzhakhov to nine years in prison, Ismail Nalgiev, Bagaudin Khautiev, and Barakh Chemurziev to eight years, and Zarifa Sautieva to seven and a half years. In July 2023, the appellate court upheld the sentence, while tightening the additional sentences for the activists. The "Caucasian Knot" has prepared a report titled "The Main Points of the Ingush Protest Leaders' Case".
Relatives and friends of Musa Malsagov met him as he left the prison colony in the Volgograd region, where the political prisoner was serving his sentence, Fortanga reported today.
The project published a video of Malsagov, filmed after the political prisoner's release. Relatives who met Malsagov congratulated him on his release.
"Musa Malsagov's release today is perceived as a symbolic moment—not only for his family, but for the entire civil society of Ingushetia," notes the Telegram channel The Magas Times.
Earlier today, elder Akhmed Barakhoev was released from a penal colony in the Yaroslavl region. "We waited and waited. May Allah grant that we also see retribution for those who imprisoned them," user Ruslan Bekov commented on the news of the release of both political prisoners on the Fortanga Facebook page*.
Malsagov and Barakhoev, along with Malsag Uzhakhov, who remains in custody, were sentenced to the longest prison terms in the "Ingush case." Uzhakhov's release is expected at the end of February.
Former Ingush Interior Minister Akhmed Pogorov was also sentenced to nine years, becoming the eighth person convicted in the "Ingush case." Pogorov, who was on the federal wanted list and was detained in February 2021, was sentenced only in November 2025.
On March 26, 2019, a large rally, sanctioned by the authorities, took place in Magas. It was permitted to continue until the evening, but protesters stayed overnight. The following morning, March 27, security forces used force against protesters. Since early April 2019, mass arrests of activists have been underway in the republic. Seven protest leaders have been given lengthy prison sentences for peaceful protests calling for the prevention of unrest, Russian journalists and political scientists commented on the court's decision. Materials on this trial have been compiled by the "Caucasian Knot" on the thematic page "Ingushetia: The Case of the Protest Leaders".