15 OSCE countries demand from Russia to report human rights violations in Chechnya

Russia is unwilling or unable to solve the problem of human rights violations in Chechnya, announced 15 member countries of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and demanded from the Russian authorities to report within ten days on the measures taken.

In particular, the statement posted on August 30 on the website of the US mission to the OSCE, expresses the concern about the information about arrests, torture, and killings in Chechnya of people with non-traditional sexual orientation or only suspected of it.

The statement has been made on behalf of the United States, Canada, Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

The OSCE countries refer to the statement voiced by Maxim Lapunov, who complained of detention and torture, as an example of the information about the persecution of gays in Chechnya.

The OSCE's statement also mentions other cases of human rights violations in Chechnya, including the extrajudicial execution of 27 people in January 2017 and the persecution of Oyub Titiev, the head of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" in Grozny.

The OSCE asks the Russian authorities to answer four questions, including as follows: what has been done to verify the fulfillment by the Chechen leaders of the obligations assumed by Russia as a member of the OSCE; what the Russian authorities have done to investigate violations of the rights of LGBT community members and on what basis it has been concluded there are no people with non-traditional sexual orientation in Chechnya; what steps have been taken to ensure the proper functioning of the media and activities of rights defenders in the Chechen Republic and, in particular, the activities of the HRC "Memorial"; and how the information on extrajudicial execution of 27 people in Chechnya has been investigated.

In accordance with the Vienna Mechanism, the answers to the above questions should be submitted in writing within ten days, the OSCE's statement notes.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 31, 2018 at 01:54 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.