Kadyrov creates a threat to Kalyapin and Milashina by accusing them of terrorism

The allegation of Ramzan Kadyrov, who classified Igor Kalyapin, the head of the “Committee Against Torture”*, and journalist Elena Milashina as terrorists, will not be followed by criminal prosecution of those people, but the risk of unlawful pressure on them has increased, human rights defender Svetlana Gannushkina and advocate Marina Dubrovina point out.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that when commenting on the kidnapping of a mother of Abubakar Yangulbaev, a lawyer of the “Committee Against Torture”*, Ramzan Kadyrov ranked NGO head Igor Kalyapin and Elena Milashina, a journalist of the newspaper “Novaya Gazeta”, among terrorists’ accomplices.

It is unlikely that Ramzan Kadyrov’s appeal will lead to the opening of a criminal case, since there are no legal grounds for prosecuting Elena Milashina and Igor Kalyapin, believes Svetlana Gannushkina, the chair of the “Civic Assistance” Committee**. According to her, the Ramzan Kadyrov’s allegation may be followed by pressure on Igor Kalyapin and Elena Milashina.

All law enforcement bodies of Chechnya feel at ease in any city in Russia, and this is confirmed by the incident with the kidnapping of Zarema Musaeva in Nizhny Novgorod, advocate Marina Dubrovina believes.

The advocate has also expressed the opinion that pressure on those pointed out by Ramzan Kadyrov can only occur “outside the legal field.”

The Chechen law enforcement bodies are mentioned for the second time in a year in the context of kidnappings in Nizhny Novgorod which provoke wide public outcry. On February 4, 2021, Chechen law enforcers took Salekh Magamadov and his brother Ismail Isaev to Chechnya. The lawyer regarded the incident as a kidnapping. Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev were accused of aiding a militant, and in March 2021, they complained about beatings and torture after their detention.

Igor Kalyapin said that he would not take any measures after the allegation voice by the leader of Chechnya.

* The “Committee Against Torture” (CaT) was included by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) of Russia in the register of NCOs-foreign agents in 2015. In this regard, leaders liquidated the organization and created a new legal entity: the “Committee for the Prevention of Torture”, which was also included in the list of foreign agents, and the organization was closed. At present, the “Committee Against Torture” operates as an unregistered public association.

** The organization has been put by the Russian Ministry of Justice on the register of NCOs performing the functions of a foreign agent.