Human rights defenders criticize police after detention of Chechens in Strasbourg

Human rights defenders mentioned as an example of Chechenophobia the detention in Strasbourg of two Chechen natives suspected of justifying terrorism because of their gestures during taking selfies.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 27, in Strasbourg, the police detained two natives of Chechnya after they had taken selfies during the Christmas market. The law enforcers did not find anything illegal in their actions and set the men free. Abubakar Yunusov, one of the detainees, wrote on Instagram that the Strasbourg policemen exerted pressure and did not allow him and his friend contacting their relatives.

Lawyers from the Collective against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) intend to file a complaint against the actions of the policemen. The complaint will be filed after completion of the verification of the fact of the incident, Abubakar Yunusov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on December 2.

This is not a single detention of natives of Northern Caucasus in Europe, Svetlana Gannushkina, the head of the human rights organization "Civic Assistance", told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The situation in Strasbourg testifies to an atmosphere of fear and misunderstanding, the human rights defender believes.

Chechenophobia is intensifying in Europe, Ekkehard Maas, the director of the German-Chechen Friendship Society in Berlin, also told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "As for the Chechens, people just go crazy right now about them. There is a kind of hysterical moods about the Chechens [in Europe]," Ekkehard Maas said.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 3, 2019 at 03:53 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.