Journalists consider Chechen law enforcers' appeal a threat to them

Human rights defenders suggest that the readiness to "stop insults" to Chechen law enforcers, which was demonstrated in their address to President Putin by colleagues of the former law enforcer, whose evidence was made public by the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta", should be regarded as a threat to the newspaper's correspondents.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 15, the "Novaya Gazeta" posted a story told by Suleiman Gezmakhmaev, a former fighter of the Akhmat Kadyrov special-purpose police regiment, who witnessed extrajudicial executions in Chechnya. After that, in a video appeal to Vladimir Putin, the fighters of the Akhmat Kadyrov special-purpose police regiment called on the Russian President to stop the "information war" against the special-purpose police regiment. According to one of the Chechen law enforcers who voiced the video appeal, the fighters of the special-purpose police regiment are being forced to have one of them "take responsibility for stopping the insults to the entire personnel."

Galina Arapova, the director of the "Mass Media Defence Centre"*, interpreted the statement voiced by the law enforcer as a threat to the journalists. "In the video we see armed people who want 'to solve the problem.' "This is not a theatre review of a new play, but an aggressive message. A reasonable person will perceive something like that as a threat. I strongly doubt that their methods of 'solving the problem' include filing a lawsuit to a court with further trial," Galina Arapova told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Human rights journalist Nadezhda Azhgikhina, the director of the "PEN-Moscow", also believes that the statement, voiced by the law enforcer in the video appeal, should be considered as a threat to the correspondent of the "Novaya Gazeta". "They are being persecuted. We all remember how the entrance to their office was poured with a chemical substance ... Since April 1, 2017, a war has been declared in Chechnya against the correspondents of the 'Novaya Gazeta', and in fact, any Muslim is expected to beat a newspaper's correspondent if he sees him. There were no reports about the cancellation of the relevant fatwa (an official explanation of the religious and legal issue), and the authorities support it behind the scenes," Nadezhda Azhgikhina said.

Nadezhda Azhgikhina described the reaction in Chechnya to the material posted by the "Novaya Gazeta" as "an unacceptable statement." "There is an obvious call for violence ... I wonder why the law enforcement bodies do not react to it," Nadezhda Azhgikhina expressed her opinion.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 18, 2021 at 03:39 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.