Chechen Prosecutor's Office finds no violations in Kadyrov's words of collective responsibility of militants' families

The Prosecutor's Office of Chechnya has found no appeals to crime in the statements of the head of the republic Ramzan Kadyrov about responsibility of relatives for militants' actions, says a copy of the document released by Igor Kalyapin, the head of the Committee against Torture.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 5, 2014, Ramzan Kadyrov held a meeting, during which he stated that militants' relatives would be expelled from the republic, and their houses would be demolished. Kadyrov made this statement after militants’ attack on Grozny on December 4. The fight resulted in 11 killed members of the armed underground and 14 lost power agents; other 36 law enforcers were wounded.

On December 9, 2014, Igor Kalyapin lodged requests to the heads of the Russian General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) and the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) demanding to examine these Kadyrov's statements. Igor Kalyapin had regarded that Kadyrov's words violated the presumption of innocence; and the measures declared by Kadyrov would break the law and violate citizens' rights.

The head of Chechnya had only expressed his opinion about the negative consequences that may occur in relation to militants' relatives, said the response that Igor Kalyapin received to his request from the Chechen Prosecutor's Office on February 3 by fax.

Igor Kalyapin disagrees with this assessment. "It's hard to argue that eviction and demolition of houses are negative consequences for people. However, the issue is on the legality of such 'consequences' and of official statements made by the head of the region on this topic. But this main question was left unanswered by the prosecutor," Igor Kalyapin reacted.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.