04 January 2024, 23:59
Kadyrov’s critics complain about pressure on their relatives from law enforcers
In Chechnya, the law enforcement bodies threatened relatives of two persons with the use of violence, demanding to stop criticising the republic’s authorities, activists reported.
The “Caucasian Knot” has reported Ramzan Kadyrov announced that relatives of the people suspected of extremism would be responsible for their actions. The authorities of Chechnya will get rid of their critics wherever they are, the Chechen leader emphasizes.
Law enforcers threatened to kill relatives of the authors of an opposition Chechen Telegram channel after Ramzan Kadyrov had called on to get rid of critics, a representative of the above-mentioned Telegram channel reported.
According to the activist’s story, law enforcers demanded from relatives to force their family members to stop their activities and threatened the families of two activists with reprisals against their fathers and brothers, the “Kavkaz.Realii”* reports.
The activist notes that relatives “are afraid to get in touch.” “We received information that (the authorities of Chechnya) held a meeting especially dedicated to our team. And at the meeting, an order was received to destroy our resource by any means: to stop our activists through their relatives,” claimed the activist as quoted by the “Kavkaz.Realii”*.
Let us remind you that relatives of Ramzan Kadyrov’s critics were repeatedly subjected to pressure from the authorities of Chechnya. So, in December 2021, Ramzan Kadyrov’s critics complained about mass kidnappings of their relatives in Chechnya and Astrakhan.
Human rights defenders interviewed by the “Caucasian Knot” have noted that residents of Chechnya, whose relatives are being kept by law enforcers, do not turn to human rights organizations for help, as they are afraid that their appeals to human rights defenders will worsen the situation of their relatives and the family.
Taking relatives hostage is a historically untypical practice for the Caucasus, notes Ruslan Kutaev, the president of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations. However, even in Tsarist Russia, the country’s authorities sometimes resorted to the practice of kidnapping dissidents’ relatives, Ruslan Kutaev emphasized.
*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 4, 2024 at 04:23 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Source: Caucasian Knot
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