AI demands investigation of extrajudicial executions in Chechnya

The information on the killing of 27 people in Chechnya has been released by a reliable source and looks plausible by virtue of the specific situation in the republic. This is the opinion of Denis Krivosheev, Deputy Director of the Amnesty International (AI) for Europe and Central Asia. The editorial board of the "Novaya Gazeta" has appealed to Mikhail Fedotov, the head of the Human Rights Council (HRC) under Russian President, urging him to draw attention of rights defenders around the world to this case.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the journalist Elena Milashina wrote in the "Novaya Gazeta" on July 9 that at least 27 people were executed in Chechnya at night on January 26. According to her article, they had been detained in connection with the attack on policemen in Grozny on December 17, 2016. Djambulat Umarov, the Minister for National Policy, External Relations, Press and Information of Chechnya, has treated this information as a lie.

The AI's website says that this international human rights calls for an immediate investigation of the reports about extrajudicial executions in Chechnya.

Mr Krivosheev has noted that the latest reports about mass executions in Chechnya are consistent with the conclusions made by rights defenders earlier, when they documented other information on extrajudicial executions in Northern Caucasus.

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