Chechen officials' comments indicate approval of torture policy

The comments of Chechen officials, who justify torture, are elements of the programme aimed to intimidate the opposition-minded youth, the experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 24, the "Grozny" TV Channel showed video fragments, in which Islam Kadyrov, while being the Mayor of Grozny, threatened residents of the Chechen capital with execution and applies an electric shocker (stun gun) to a woman. On November 3, Islam Kadyrov apologized to Grozny townspeople. In his turn, the blogger, Tumso Abdurakhmanov, has stated that Isa Ibragimov, the Minister for Youth Affairs of Chechnya, in his comments to Islam Kadyrov's apologies, in fact, justified the use of a stun gun to the detainees. Earlier, Alvi Karimov, the press secretary of the head of Chechnya, noted that Islam Kadyrov had used unacceptable methods for "good purposes."

The comment by Isa Ibragimov, of course, was agreed with the top Chechen leadership; his statement is not the initiative of the minister himself, said Ruslan Kurbanov, a senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). The comment has appeared as "intimidation of the forces oppositional to Ramzan Kadyrov, mainly, the youth," the expert has explained.

"Chechen officials are treating themselves to be both policemen, and judges, and prosecutors, realizing that if they fail to suppress the freedom today, tomorrow, they'll face a riot. Ibragimov made it clear that if someone goes against the Chechen authorities, he'll face torture worse than a stun gun [...] However, Ibragimov himself would not dare to have his own opinion – the fear of [Ramzan] Kadyrov is too great," Mr Kurbanov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Professor Alexei Malashenko, the head of scientific researches at the "Civilizations' Dialogue" Institute, agrees with his colleague that there was no personal initiative in Ibragimov's comment: his phrase only confirms the course taken by the republic's authorities: "to achieve the desired goals by any means."

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 7, 2019 at 01:16 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.