In Grozny, raids raise questions about legitimacy of law enforcers' actions

In Grozny, law enforcers carry out raids and write down the personal data of young people wearing beards, report city residents. The fact that a passer-by wears a beard is not a legitimate reason for stopping him, note veterans of the law enforcement bodies.

Local residents told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that new raids against young people wearing beards have taken place in the streets of Grozny. "I was in Minutka Square, and I entered a store. At the exit, two agents in black uniform stopped me. They asked my name and surname and where I lived and wrote down my personal data to their notes. I asked them what happened, and they told me that they were following the instructions of their chiefs. Their attention was attracted by my long beard and moustache shaved," said Rasul, a resident of Grozny.

In his interview to the "Caucasian Knot", Sergey Goncharov, the president of the International Association of Veterans of the "Alpha" Anti-Terrorist Division, has noted there is no law according to which a policeman may unreasonably request personal data from a passer-by.

"A policeman may stop a citizen if he or she resembles by appearance or other parameters a person from the wanted list," Sergey Goncharov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. Meanwhile, the only fact that a man wears a beard "is not a sign that he resembles by his appearance a wanted criminal," the law enforcer emphasized.

Such inspections conducted by law enforcers do not improve stability in the region, believes political analyst Vadim Mukhanov, Senior Researcher at the Centre for Caucasian Studies at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (known as MGIMO).

"This case is only a link in the chain of events contributing to the radicalization of Chechen and Caucasian young people," the political analyst told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 30, 2019 at 02:36 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.