Members of Chechen group "Guardians of Morality" detained in Austria

In Austria, the police detained six natives of Chechnya after complaints from their compatriots about beatings for posting photos in swimsuits or dating non-Chechens.

There are five men and one woman among the detainees, and they are between 19 and 37 years old. They are suspected of beating people and creating a criminal community.

According to the police, the "Moral Guardians" grouping is responsible for at least ten cases of intimidation and beating of members of the Chechen Diaspora in Vienna and Linz. The victims were mostly women, sometimes their partners and family members. They were accused by the "Moral Guardians" of "immoral" or "too Western" behaviour. Members of the grouping monitored on social networks the posts with photos and videos from beaches and parties and then sent out threats. There are 10 victims in the case, the Austrian police report on the official websites.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that similar groupings also act in Northern Caucasus. For example, photos of Chechen young women from their Instagram pages were reposted on the "VKontakte" social network. Members of the grouping called on relatives of the young women to "clear them up."

In Dagestan, "fighters for morality" were especially active in 2018, when they achieved the cancellation of an anime festival, a number of concerts, and film screenings.

In Chechnya, non-standard clothes, rap or atheistic views cause public condemnation and may become a reason for detention of a person by law enforcers. In Dagestan, according to activist Svetlana Anokhina, young women "are being harassed for posting innocent photos in bras, threatened with murder, or blackmailed."