19 March 2021, 19:59
CoE urges Russian authorities to investigate extrajudicial executions in Chechnya
The Russian authorities should study the information made public by the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" about extrajudicial killings in Chechnya and protect the newspaper's journalists from possible harassment, states Dunja Mijatović, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 15, the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" posted a story reported by Suleiman Gezmakhmaev, a former fighter of the Akhmat Kadyrov special-purpose police regiment, who witnessed extrajudicial executions in Chechnya. After that, at a rally in Grozny, relatives of the police regiment's fighters accused Elena Milashina, an author of the article released by the "Novaya Gazeta", of provocations. The fighters of the Akhmat Kadyrov special-purpose police regiment recorded a video appeal to Vladimir Putin and urged him to stop the "information war" against the police regiment.
Since the early 2017, the "Novaya Gazeta" has been investigating the facts of mass arrests without trials, torture, executions, and "carbon-copy" sentences of more than 100 people in Chechnya in December 2016 and January 2017.
Dunja Mijatović, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe (CoE), called on the Russian authorities to investigate the information reported by the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" about extrajudicial executions in Chechnya. "The shocking testimonies revealed by the 'Novaya Gazeta' about extrajudicial executions and other grave human rights violations committed in Chechnya over the last years warrant an immediate, impartial, and independent investigation by the Russian federal investigative authorities into such violations," said Dunja Mijatović in her statement posted on the CoE's website on the night of March 19.
"All individuals proved to be involved in those abhorrent crimes should be brought to justice regardless of the official status they may have," said the CoE's Commissioner for Human Rights.
According to Dunja Mijatović, "once again, the journalists of the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" are the target of attacks, smear campaigns, intimidation, and other forms of reprisals aimed at silencing them. This situation cannot be tolerated and must stop immediately," emphasized the CoE's Commissioner for Human Rights.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 19, 2021 at 02:07 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
