Grozny judge upholds investigators' refusal to check Kadyrov's threats

The Grozny court has again refused to satisfy the complaint lodged by human rights defenders against investigators' refusal to prosecute the head of Chechnya for threats against journalists and social networks users, Mikhail Benyash, an advocate, has stated.

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 those social networks users who comment on these materials. "Whoever spreads confusion and gossips, if they are not killed, imprisoned or stopped – nothing will come of it," this is the translation of Kadyrov's words into Russian.

On November 22, 2020, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial"* and the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG) pointed out to the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) that the threats voiced out by Ramzan Kadyrov undermine the authorities' prestige and may be perceived by his subordinates as a guide to action. Investigators refused to issue a resolution on their applications; and on January 15, 2021, the Staropromyslovsky District Court of Grozny rejected the complaint about investigators' inaction.

The consideration of the complaint against investigator's inaction was held on April 26 at the Staropromyslovsky District Court of Grozny. The applicant, Oleg Orlov, the chairman of the board of the HRC "Memorial"*, and Mikhail Benyash, an advocate from the Krasnodar Territory, were present in the courtroom.

The judge found no violations of the law in investigator's actions, Mr Benyash has stated.

"The freedom of speech is like that: some are imprisoned for a request to provide legal assistance, while others are allowed much, much more," Mikhail Benyash has concluded in a post placed on his personal Facebook page.

* The organization is included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in the “Register of non-profit organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent”.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 26, 2021 at 08:03 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.