Hundreds of people gathered on the central square in Ufa, the capital of Russia's Bashkortostan region on January 19 to support activist Fail Alsynov after his sentencing two days earlier to four years in prison on a charge of "inciting ethnic hatred" sparked clashes with police.
The demonstrators sang songs in the Bashkir language and danced in circles as they tried to ward off police officers monitoring the event by saying they were just out walking on Ufa's Salavat Yulayev Square.
Riot police (OMON), however, detained more than 10 people, including a man who held Bashkortostan's national flag and a young woman who had a poster on her back saying "Qara Halyq," or "ordinary people," but is directly translated from Bashkir as "black people." The phrase, used against Alsynov in his case, was interpreted by investigators as "insulting" even though he and his supporters have insisted on the proper interpretation of the phrase.
The demonstrators tried to stop a police vehicle from taking away four people. A minor clash with law enforcement ensued, but the car managed to leave the square with the detained individuals.
A day earlier, Bashkortostan's Interior Ministry issued a warning about legal repercussions for "unsanctioned public gatherings and rallies."
The united press service of administrative courts in Bashkortostan said in a statement on January 19 that 17 people have been sentenced to jail terms of between eight and 15 days since January 17 for taking part in rallies in the town of Baimak to support Alsynov.
Separately, local media reports on January 19 said Bashkir singer Altynai Valitov, who openly supported Alsynov, went incommunicado after his residence in Ufa was raided by security forces.
On January 17, Valitov posted a video statement on the Internet condemning Alsynov's incarceration and calling on Bashkirs and other indigenous peoples in Russia's ethnic republics to stage rallies to "defend their rights."
The next day, Valitov posted another video online appealing to Ufa residents to come to his residence because police officers had "forced their way" into his home.
He later wrote that police had left. The video was subsequently deleted and he disappeared from social media and did not answer calls from journalists.
The situation around Alsynov's trial got tense on January 15 when some 5,000 people gathered in front of a court in the town of Baimak, where the verdict and sentence were expected to be announced. But the court postponed the announcement by two days to allow security forces to prepare for any reaction to the outcome of the controversial trial.
On January 17, thousands of supporters gathered again in front of the court, and after Alsynov was sentenced to four years in prison, clashes broke out as police, using batons, tear gas and stun grenades, forced the protesters to leave the site. Bashkortostan officials said later that 40 people, including 22 law enforcement officers were injured in the violence.
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Clashes At Protest In Russia's Bashkortostan Region As Activist Jailed
Dozens of protesters were detained and the Investigative Committee said those in custody from the January 17 unrest will face criminal charges -- organizing and participating in mass unrest and using violence against law enforcement.
It was Bashkortostan's Kremlin-backed leader, Radiy Khabirov, who initiated the investigation of Alsynov, accusing him of "inciting ethnic hatred" as well as "calling for anti-government rallies and extremist activities" and "discrediting Russia's armed forces."
In the end, Alsynov was charged only with inciting hatred, which stemmed from a speech he gave at a rally in late April 2023 in the village of Ishmurzino. In it, he criticized the local government’s plans to start mining gold near the village as it would bring in migrant laborers.
Investigators said Alsynov's speech "negatively assessed people in the Caucasus and Central Asia, humiliating their human dignity." Alsynov and his supporters have rejected the charge as politically motivated.
On January 19, commenting on the situation in Bashkortostan, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said "there is no mass unrest" there.
"I would not agree with such a description as 'mass unrest and mass protests'...There are separate expressions [of such things] and they fall under the competence of local authorities and law enforcement entities," Peskov said.