On 15 February, the North Caucasus District Military Court convicted an Ingush man of public calls to terrorist activity. He was sentenced to two years and two months in prison.

The investigation, led by the Ingush division of the Federal Security Service (FSB), established that, Amirkhan Aushev disseminated information justifying terrorism and called for extremist activity.

The court found him guilty on all counts: ‘public calls to terrorist activity or public justification of terrorism’ and ‘public calls to extremist activity’.

Aushev was tried under new articles of the Russian Criminal Code. The ‘antiterrorist amendments’ were suggested by MP Irina Yarova, and were adopted by the State Duma in July 2016. The amendments, dubbed ‘Yarova’s package’ by journalists, significantly toughened the punishment for dissent, while expanding the powers and functions of law enforcement and intelligence agencies.