Grozny residents claim being forced to participate in boxing event

In Grozny, employees of public sector institutions reported about being forced to attend a boxing tournament. In Chechnya, the power penetrates deeply into a personal space of people, their families, and personal leisure time, human rights defenders note.

On April 18, the boxing evening "Time of Legends: Revival" took place in the sports hall "Colosseum", designed to accommodate about 5000 spectators.

Employees of the public sector claim that they were forced to attend the boxing evening or send their family members or friends in case if they could not attend the event by themselves.

According to Luiza, an employee of a Chechen public institution, being a woman, she was allowed not to attend the boxing tournament, but to replace herself, she sent her nephew and his friend to the tournament.

People were not allowed to leave the sports hall till the end of the fight evening, fans reported.

Coercion of Chechen residents to attend cultural events is another sign of what is happening in the region, the human rights defenders believe.

"In Chechnya, people are forced to attend sports events, concerts, and football matches. People have to come to events, and it is good for them when they do not have to pay for that, since they also often have to buy tickets. The existing regime does not recognize any personal choice. The authorities decide that people will retract their divorces, they will wear the clothes they are told to wear, and they will go to boxing events. Alas, these are the conditions of the today's existence in Chechnya, where the power penetrates very deeply into a personal space of a person, his or her families, and into personal leisure time. This is another evidence of violence against a person that is going on there," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told on April 21 by Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, Director of the Conflict Analysis and Prevention Centre.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 22, 2019 at 07:01 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.