Rights defenders challenge Chechen investigators' refusal to check Kadyrov's statements

The refusal of the Chechen branch of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) to register an application about a possible crime and check Kadyrov's threats against authors of negative materials and comments is illegal, human rights defenders believe.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 4, 2019, at a meeting with the Chechen government, Ramzan Kadyrov demanded to punish authors of negative materials about the republic and social network users commenting on these materials. "Whoever spreads the unrest and gossips, if they are not killed, imprisoned and stopped, nothing will come of it," this is the translation of Kadyrov's words into Russian.

The Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" and the Moscow Helsinki Group have appealed to Alexander Bastrykin, the ICRF Chairman, and Igor Krasnov, the Russian Public Prosecutor General, with a complaint that Chechen investigators has refused to register their application about a possible crime and check Kadyrov's words, the press service of the HRC "Memorial" reported on March 3. In their complaint dated February 28, they demanded to treat the refusal of the investigators of the ICRF's branch in Chechnya as contrary to the law; to institute a criminal case on their application, and punish those who have improperly reacted to their request to check Kadyrov's words.

According to human rights defenders, on February 25, they received investigators' answer. "We were denied even a check (!) ... of public calls for murder," the HRC's press release has stated.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 3, 2020 at 10:57 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.