In Grozny, rally participants curse Milashina for her article on extrajudicial executions

In Grozny, participants of a rally accused journalist Elena Milashina of provocation. Criticism against Ramzan Kadyrov or the law enforcement bodies in Chechnya is equal to criticism against the entire Chechen nation, the chair of the Public Chamber of Chechnya has announced at the rally.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 15, the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" made public copies of the photo tables prepared by the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA). The tables contained the information concerning the detention of 108 people, some of whom fell victim to extrajudicial killings in 2017. The newspaper also released a testimony of Chechen law enforcer Suleiman Gezmakhmaev. According to his story, residents of Chechnya, detained in January 2017, were tortured and forced to incriminate themselves before the extrajudicial killings, and the law enforcer witnessed those events.

At the today's rally held in Grozny, participants have claimed that Elena Milashina and the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" "do not let people live."

The "Grozny" state-run TV Company called the rally in the centre of the city a "people's gathering." In the video, disseminated by the TV Company, the people are holding in their hands the posters reading: "Milashina, damn you", "Milashina is a selective provocateur."

Today, hundreds of relatives of the fighters from the Akhmat-Khadji Kadyrov special police regiment have also gathered in the centre of Grozny. Ismail Denilkhanov, the chairman of the Public Chamber of Chechnya, addressed the audience. "As the chairman of the Chechen Public Chamber, I announce that our task, the task of our society, is to let some people know that if someone has spoken out with regard to the leader of the Chechen Republic, then it concerns every Chechen native. If someone has spoken out about a policeman, a doctor, a teacher, who works at a university, then he or she spoke out with regard to the entire Chechen nation," Ismail Denilkhanov says in a video posted today on the Grozny-TV Instagram page.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 17, 2021 at 06:16 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.