Human rights defenders warn against hasty conclusions about detainee in Chechnya

The statement of Ramzan Kadyrov concerning connections of a detainee in Chechnya with Ingush militants is not enough to consider a person a member of the armed underground, human rights defender point out.

Ramzan Kadyrov announced that Chechen law enforcers had detained “a member of the bandit underground” in the village of Gvardeyskoye in the Nadterechny District. Later, the leader of Chechnya also added that a participant of armed attacks on law enforcers in Ingushetia was detained. Telegram channels reported with references to their sources in the law enforcement bodies that the detainee was Ramazan (Ramzan) Babuev, a resident of Ingushetia, who helped residents of Ingushetia put on the wanted list to hide from law enforcers after an attack on a road-and-patrol police service (known as DPS) checkpoint.

Ruslan Kutaev, the president of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations, admits that a participant of the attacks on the Ingush law enforcers could be detained in Chechnya. At the same time, according to Ruslan Kutaev, it cannot be argued that the detainee was a militant.

Chechen human rights defender Oyub Titiev agrees that it is necessary to carefully study the information in order to say with confidence that the detainee is a militant.

Svetlana Gannushkina*, the chair of the “Civic Assistance Committee”*, doubts that the militant could chose Chechnya as a safe haven. The human rights defender noted that there were many cases in Chechnya when innocent people were declared to be militants.

A report on the detainee increases his chances of staying alive, Ruslan Kutaev emphasizes.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.