Analysts suggest to punish villagers for criticizing municipal authorities in Chechnya

Residents of Chechnya who took part in gatherings to express their dissatisfaction with the shortage of water and gas supply may be punished because their discontent was expressed publicly. The residents face from apologies and dismissals to threat of being sent to the special military operation (SMO) zone. At the same time, the authorities of the republic may also punish local officials, analysts believe.

Videos of gatherings of residents in Chechen villages who expressed their dissatisfaction with the shortage of water and gas supply have been posted online. “People didn’t even have enough water to wash the body of the deceased man,” says one of the villagers in the video. The villagers express their complaints to the local official. They claim that if he cannot organize the supply of water, he should resign from his official position.

Amina Lorsanova, a lawyer for the “Vayfond” human rights organization, has been surprised that the villagers dared to come out to the gathering. “Of course, their act makes me admire and respect these people very much ... I don’t know the reason why water is not coming to their village, but perhaps the problem is in corruption,” Amina Lorsanova stated.

The human rights defender has noted that such activity is not typical for residents of Chechnya. “There was dissatisfaction with Magomed Daudov. People also came out, expressing their complaints, for which everyone later apologized very much ... Of course, most likely, they will later regret what they said ... Their dissatisfaction will be suppressed very quickly and harshly,” the human rights defender believes.

As practice shows, if an issue receives public resonance, then the Chechen authorities find someone to blame and hold him responsible for everything, Amina Lorsanova notes.

It is possible that some of the men who participated in the mentioned gathering will have to go to the SMO zone if the issue receives a lot of resonance in the media, Amina Lorsanova has added.

“Any activity of this kind is severely punishable today,” Amina Lorsanova stated.

The human rights defender, being familiar with Chechen realities, does not rule out that those who recorded the video will be punished.

Svetlana Gannushkina*, the chair of the “Civic Assistance Committee”*, believes that the gathering will result in apologies.

“Some of them will lose their job, and some will lose their pensions. Or, what is worst, some of them will have to sign up as ‘volunteers’ and improve the statistics of the leader of Chechnya, who likes to brag about the number of SMO participants from Chechnya,” Svetlana Gannushkina* suggested.

Complaints from residents of Chechnya have repeatedly led to consequences that their authors did not expect. So, Movladi Mutaev, a resident of the village of Verkhniy Naur, complained in his audio message to Ramzan Kadyrov about the local authorities who were not addressing the village’s problems, in particular, with the supply of gas and electricity. Later, Movladi Mutaev voiced his apologies. The resident of Chechnya was forced to apologize, since his words discredited the officials appointed by Ramzan Kadyrov, analysts noted.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.

**On April 20, 2015, information appeared on the website of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) of the Russian Federation that the “Civic Assistance Committee” was included in the list of foreign agents.