Chronicle of attack on JMG's office in Grozny

In Grozny, the office of the Joint Mobile Group (JMG) was attacked after the authorities had announced the action against the information war against Russia and the Chechen Republic. According to the Chechen TV Channel, local residents held a spontaneous rally in front of the JMG's office against the politicization of human rights activities.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that today, during the rally in front of the rights defenders' office, unidentified persons assaulted the JMG's office. The rights defenders reported that their attempts to contact the police had failed. According to eyewitnesses, the police arrived in the place of the pogrom only after the attackers smashed the car of the rights defenders and destroyed the JMG's office and apartment and after staff members of the JMG's office managed to escape.

Chronicle of attack on JMG's office

In Twitter, the Committee against Torture reports that today, the office of the Joint Mobile Group (JMG) of Russian rights defenders in Grozny has been assaulted. The "Caucasian Knot" has chronicled the events as reported in Twitter, Moscow time.

10:08 a.m. People gather for a rally 100 meters from our office in Grozny. They are approaching our office, and they are already in the yard.

10:10. People gathered for a rally in the yard of the building in Grozny, where the office of the Joint Mobile Group was located.

10:26. According to eyewitnesses, people are just standing and talking on their topics. No slogans or any kind of outcry are heard.

10:33. They are standing near the entrance. We see posters reading: "Why Kalyapin's people keep silence?" and "Dadaev is a victim of lawlessness!"

10:36. Several people in masks are standing near the entrance. And we see no policemen.

10:40. We hear outcries and slogans. Young men in masks are smashing with sledgehammers our official car parked in the yard.

10:43. People with pinch-bars in their hands broke into the entrance. They use paint to disable a sight hole of the office.

10:45. They are at the entrance now.

10:46. The people are climbing to the balcony and trying to shatter the window.

10:55. Now, the people in masks are trying to break open the door to the office.

11:01. The people broke into the office. They began to destroy everything. Our guys escaped through the window.

11:13. The office is still under the reign of the men in masks, who are destroying everything. The police have not arrived yet.

11:32. For an hour, we called the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), the MIA's Department for the city of Grozny, and the Investigating Department for the Chechen Republic of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF). We got no response, and no one came to the place.

11:40. The office has been destroyed. Now, the unidentified men are using a grinder to open the door of the JMG's apartment located next to the JMG's office.

11:48. Igor Kalyapin: "My attempts to contact Apti Alaudinov, the Chief of the Police of the Chechen Republic, have failed. The Police General does not answer the phone."

11:49. Igor Kalyapin: "I've informed Mikhail Fedotov, the Chairman of the Human Rights Council (HRC), of the incident."

12:21. They are smashing our car. Video.

12:21. They are destroying the camera on the balcony of the office. Video.

12:24. Here it was. "Grozny-TV": In Grozny, public organizations held a picket in front of the office of the Committee against Torture."

13:06. Peskov: "Putin will be informed about the pogroms in Grozny, when the details are available."

14:22. The Human Rights Centre "Memorial": "The place is approached by staff members of the Investigating Committee.

20:06. Tomorrow, the HRC is to urgently consider the attack on the office of the Committee against Torture. Ramzan Kadyrov is invited to the meeting.

The incident faced by the staff members of the JMG in Grozny is not the first one recently took place. On December 13, 2014, a fire occurred at the Grozny office of the Joint Mobile Group, which included rights defenders of the Committee against Torture. According to the staff members of the JMG's office, the fire could be caused by arson.

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