Krasnodar activists hold pickets to condemn Ramzan Kadyrov's statements

Krasnodar hosted a series of solo pickets, which participants criticized the statements made by Chechen leader concerning the non-systemic opposition. According to the picketers, they stopped their protest action after the intervention of two young men, who supported Ramzan Kadyrov.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 12, Ramzan Kadyrov said that the non-systemic opposition should be treated "as public enemies and traitors," who are trying to stagger the situation in Russia. Human rights defenders, opposition leaders, the Russian Ombudsman, and intellectuals have sharply criticized the statement made by the Chechen leader on January 12. On January 18, Maxim Reznik, an MP from Saint Petersburg, filed to the General Prosecutor's Office an appeal with a request to verify the Ramzan Kadyrov's statement for extremism. On January 19 the HRC stated its intention to send Kadyrov's words about "people's enemies" to examination.

On January 20, public activists took to the streets of Krasnodar with the posters reading: "Kadyrov is the shame of Russia!" and "Kadyrov, forgive us for staying alive and for breathing". According to public activist Victor Chirikov, the picketers also unfolded the posters reading: "Freedom for political prisoners!" and "Freedom for Darya Polyudova!"

"We were carrying out our protest action in front of the building, which, according to our information, hosted the representative office of Chechnya in the Krasnodar Territory. We were approached by two men, who asked us to remove our posters", Victor Chirikov has told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to him, the men, who approached the picketers, told them that they "had no right to speak ill of the hero of Russia."

"We wanted to leave the place at once, since we feared of provocations. However, the young men did not let us go. They told us that we would not go anywhere until we threw away the poster. However, we were still able to leave the place and save the poster," said Darya Polyudova, a participant of the protest action.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.