AI: Russian authorities must respond to Kadyrov's statements

The Russian federal authorities "must respond to a series of barely veiled threats against several prominent rights defenders, media figures and politicians, pronounced by the political leadership of the Chechen Republic." "Such threats should be taken seriously," says a statement posted on the website of the human rights organization "Amnesty International" (AI).

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 12, Ramzan Kadyrov said that the non-systemic opposition should be treated "as public enemies and traitors," who are trying to stagger the situation in Russia. Human rights defenders, opposition leaders, the Russian Ombudsman, and intellectuals have sharply criticized the statement made by the Chechen leader on January 12. On January 18, Maxim Reznik, an MP from Saint Petersburg, filed to the General Prosecutor's Office an appeal with a request to verify the Ramzan Kadyrov's statement for extremism. On January 19 the HRC stated its intention to send Kadyrov's words about "people's enemies" to examination.

"The Russian Ombudsperson Ella Pamfilova was the only official of the federal level, who criticized Kadyrov's statement, treating it as 'senseless' and harmful to Russian President," the rights defenders remind.

In its statement, the AI stresses that Russia "has more than once seen violent attacks on rights defenders and other critics of the government and murder of them, which Russian authorities were clearly unable to investigate." In this context, rights defenders recalled the killings of Boris Nemtsov, Anna Politkovskaya, Natalia Estemirova, and the attack in Grozny on the office of the "Committee against Torture".

"The permanently repeated threats against and attacks on rights defenders, media workers and political activists, especially those who work in Chechnya, and the continuing impunity for such actions strongly demand from Russian federal authorities to immediately and resolutely react to these latest threats," says the AI's statement.

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