Human rights defenders treat Kadyrov’s criticism of law enforcement bodies’ heads as test of his influence

When criticizing the heads of the Investigating Committee and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, the leader of Chechnya is measuring his influence with theirs. At the same time, Ramzan Kadyrov drew his attention to a case of a Chechen teenager living in Moscow, although hundreds of Chechen natives have been convicted on fabricated charges.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that Ramzan Kadyrov claimed Vladimir Kolokoltsev and Alexander Bastrykin, the heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) and the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), respectively, to be professionally incompetent. The teenager, for whom Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov stood up, is accused of beating minors on the streets of Moscow, the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) reports.

Ramzan Kadyrov is testing how far he can go by criticizing the heads of the law enforcement bodies, suggests Svetlana Gannushkina*, the chair of the “Civic Assistance Committee”**.

“I honestly doubt that Ramzan Kadyrov would feel sorry for a teenager just because the boy is a Chechen teenager,” the human rights defender noted.

Svetlana Gannushkina* believes Ramzan Kadyrov should take an interest in the cases of hundreds of Chechen natives who were convicted on falsified charges.

A human rights defender from the “Memorial” Centre for Human Rights Defence (CHRD)*** believes that the ICRF’s should not have reacted to the criticism voiced by Ramzan Kadyrov.

“In fact, the head of the Investigating Committee should not react to such minor offenses ... If the boy had not been a Chechen, I am sure that this situation would not have taken place,” the human rights defender noted.

At the same time, according to the human rights defender’s version, thousands of Chechen natives who were convicted unlawfully need help.

“We can name all those who were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment for participating in the battle with the 6th squadron of Pskov paratroopers. All those cases have been fabricated. Everyone knows that. There is not a single piece of evidence in those cases,” the human rights defender emphasized.

*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.

***As reported on the website of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the reason for including on March 1, 2024, the unregistered “Memorial” Centre for Human Rights Defence (CHRD) into the register of foreign agents was the spread of “inaccurate information aimed at creating a negative image of the Russian Federation, as well as the Russian Armed Forces.”