12:50, 9 December 2016

Rights defenders report violent counteraction to discussion of corruption in Chechnya

Elena Milashina, a journalist of the "Novaya Gazeta". Photo RFE/RL http://pasmi.ru/archive/50109

Moscow has hosted a closed press conference on the problem of persecution of Chechen residents, who make public facts of corruption in the republic. Rights defenders presented the story of Ramazan Djalaldinov from the village of Kenkhi as an example, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

According to Elena Milashina, a journalist of the "Novaya Gazeta", the closed nature of the event had to do with a threat of possible provocations.

She noted that Djalaldinov's family was evicted from Chechnya; but later the man was offered "a deal", the guarantor of which was a well-known Dagestani religious figure Khasmagomed Abubakarov. However, the terms of the deal were broken, Ms Milashina has added and showed photos of Djalaldinov's house, which had to be repaired, and noted that he failed to receive all the money allegedly allocated to him. Also, according to Milashina, the village of Kenkhi was not rebuilt.

The advocate Pyotr Zaikin has added that no criminal case was initiated against Djalaldinov, but the man is still being harassed by law enforcers.

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

Author: Oleg Krasnov

Source: CK correspondent