Kalyapin: Chechen authorities squeeze rights defenders out of region

Igor Kalyapin, the head of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), has treated the attacks on journalists and rights defenders in Ingushetia as a demonstration of permissiveness and action of intimidation.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in the attack on March 9 eight rights defenders and journalists were beaten up, as well as the driver of the minivan of the Joint Mobile Group (JMG). On that night in Ingushetia the office of the JMG was attacked.

In Chechnya, the authorities are trying to break the channel of independent information from the republic; and these events continue the chain of measures aimed to oust defenders out of the region, said Kalyapin.

According to his version, apart from the JMG, other rights defenders are working Chechnya, who report on what is actually happening in the republic, but they have to work anonymously.

He spoke of the "defamation campaign", which is held against the JMG in the Chechen Republic and, according to his version, did not interfere with the work of rights defenders, as they had used only legal mechanisms.

According to his story, the act of intimidation is aimed at those who are already working in Chechnya, and those who are only going to visit the republic.

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