Demolition of houses of militants' relatives is illegal and should be punished, lawyers and rights defenders assert

Demolition of houses of militants' relatives is voluntarism, as the right to private property is protected by the Constitution of Russia, said lawyers and human rights activists in their comments on the decision of the head of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Evkurov and the republic's authorities to demolish the "houses of the families who had sheltered bandits."

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 16 at an emergency sitting of the Antiterrorist Commission held in the administration of the Sunzha District, Evkurov stated that the Ingush authorities had decided to demolish the houses of the families who sheltered militants and confiscate their land plots.

The demolition of houses is illegal, said Zhanna Sabeeva, a lawyer from the Bar "Sparnev and Partners", referring to the country's basic law – the Constitution of the Russian Federation, as well as to the Russia's Criminal Code.

"Point 1 of Article 35 of the Constitution states that 'the right to private property shall be protected by the law'," Ms Sabeeva has reminded.

In his turn, the head of Ingushetia has explained that the point is about abandoned houses, not used by their owners, where members of illegal armed formations (IAFs) find shelter. Mr Evkurov cited the example of the house of Barchishvili in the village of Nesterovskoe, from which, according to his story, militants made their raids.