January 26, 2022

Russian authorities ignore Chechen human rights abuses

topic:	Political violence
located:	Russia
editor:	Andrew Getto

Over the past decade, the world has been shaken by stories about human rights abuses in Chechnya. State-run executions of gay people were the the most notorious, but the reach of Ramzan Kadyrov, the head of the Chechen Republic, exceeds the borders of the republic. His disregard for human rights, and his deal with Vladimir Putin, is increasingly becoming a greater threat - even for his fellow human rights abusers in Moscow.

On 20 January, two cars with tinted windows and Chechen plates stopped near an apartment block in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. Men in plain clothes knocked on Salim Yangulbayev’s door and demanded that the elderly man and his wife immediately travel with them 1,000 miles south to Chechnya. When their lawyer pointed out that it was illegal, the men lost patience, broke into the apartment and beat the family and the lawyer.

After seeing the man’s federal judge ID, they decided to let him stay, but grabbed his 59-year-old wife and forced her into a car without any winter clothes or even shoes at minus 10 Celsius. They didn’t let Zarema Yangulbayeva take her documents or her insulin, which the diabetic needs every few hours. A few days later, she was located in a Chechen jail, where she was confined for assaulting a police officer.

This was not the first time the Yangulbayev family had been manhandled by Chechen authorities. In 2015, the judge and his two sons were taken to the head of the republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, who, according to Ibragim Yangulbayev, personally tortured him and threw him in a secret prison. He was released after a few months, but soon came back to jail for another year and a half, where he was again tortured and denied medical care.

The reason for such treatment? The Yangulbayev brothers are engaged in human rights work and have allegedly been running social media groups, criticising Kadyrov and his government. According to Ramzan Kadyrov himself, this is a deed punishable by death.

“I declare that this family will end up either in prison, or in the ground,” the Chechen leader wrote in his Telegram channel. In another statement, he said the family should be killed if they resist arrests, “as assistants to terrorists, which they are.”

Russia has become quite familiar with polarising actions and statements by Kadyrov, but this was indeed a little too much. The Russian President’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, opted to cross out the situation from the plane of objective reality. “Well, that’s a fantastical story, for sure. We prefer not to believe such messages without any proof. We live in a very untruthful time,” Peskov told journalists.

According to one of the Yangulbayev brothers, about 50 of his relatives in Chechnya were also kidnapped in an attempt to pressure the family. Earlier, opposition bloggers Tumso Abdurakhmanov and Aslan Artsuev reported receiving similar treatment. It’s hard to verify this information, but one thing is clear: the Chechen leadership has a deal with Russia, allowing them to enjoy exemption from any Russian law in exchange for political stability in the once-turbulent region.

This means that Ramzan Kadyrov can flaunt a fleet of 50 supercars, while the average wage in Chechnya is $350 per month. A Chechen senator can receive just a fine for spraying bullets during a cocaine-induced rage right next to the Red Square. The whole Chechen establishment can get away with an actual gay purge. And Russian police cannot interrogate high-ranking Chechen suspects in the assassination of politician Boris Nemtsov.

The Russian authorities are, of course, hardly concerned with the fate of LGBT people or opposition activists. But overindulgence in lawlessness knows no borders, as Kadyrov disregards even the key part of his deal with Putin: federal integrity. He openly admits Chechnya is with Russia because Moscow pays the republic about $4 billion every year, and claims he can occupy the lands of his neighbouring Ingush people, as he “doesn’t think they are people or men.”

Vladimir Putin is proud to have put an end to the bloody separatist conflict in Chechnya, but he created a monster. Human rights abuse and lawlessness in this republic will grow more ugly if he continues to ignore the problem.

Photo by Kirill Zharkoy

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