1 February 2017

Source: HRO.org

Human rights defenders have delivered an open letter to the public reception office of the Russian President regarding threats made by the Speaker of the Chechen Parliament against the editor of the Internet publication ‘Kavkazsky Uzel’ (Caucasian Knot), Grigory Shvedov.

Memorial Human Rights Centre reports.

The letter was signed by Sergei Kovalev, chair of the Memorial Historical, Educational and Human Rights Advocacy Society of Russia; Aleksandr Cherkasov, chair of the board of the Memorial Human Rights Centre; Lev Ponomarev, executive director of the All-Russian Movement For Human Rights; Ludmila Alekseeva, chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group; Svetlana Gannushkina, chair of the Civic Assistance Committee; and Oleg Orlov, a human rights defender.

Emails in support of the letter were received from Georgy [Yury] Dzhibladze, president of the Centre for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights; Igor Kalyapin, chair of the Committee ​for the Prevention of Torture; journalist and human rights defender Magomed Mutsolgov; human rights defender Valery Borshchev; the writer Vladimir Voinovich; and Yury Ryzhov, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences.


Open letter to the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin

Dear Mr President,

On 6 January 2017, the Speaker of Parliament of the Chechen Republic, Magomed Daudov, made a blunt and cynical death threat on his Instagram account against the chief editor of the Internet publication ‘Kavkazsky Uzel’ [Caucasian Knot], Grigory Shvedov. The threat was crudely disguised, but the reader can be in no doubt that it was specifically directed at the chief editor of ‘Kavkazsky Uzel’, and that the text is calling for the use of violence. Particularly disturbing is the fact that the call to violence comes from one of the top officials of the Chechen Republic.

Mr President, you will be well aware that this is hardly the first time that senior Chechen officials have publicly incited unlawful violence, reprisal and assassination, either directly or obliquely. Unfortunately, we are not aware of any instances in which you or the law enforcement agencies under your command have adequately responded to such calls.

Mr President, we cannot help but recall that a series of political murders and attempted murders has been carried out in Russia and abroad in which there was more than good reason to suggest that the Chechen leadership, or people close to it, were involved in carrying them out. In the Republic itself, unlawful violence is practised systematically against those whom the republican authorities consider their enemies.

This makes Magomed Daudova's public appeal all the more dangerous, and yet, once again, we do not hear adequate responses being made, either by you or the officials under you.

Your continued silence will mean that the responsibility for anything that happens to Grigory Shvedov and the staff of ‘Kavkazsky Uzel’ will fall to you, Mr President.

Delivered to the public reception office of the Russian President on 31 January 2017.

S. A. Kovalev, chair of the Memorial Historical, Educational and Human Rights Advocacy Society of Russia
A. V. Cherkasov, chair of the board, Memorial Human Rights Centre
L. A. Ponomarev, executive director of the All-Russian Movement For Human Rights
L. M. Alekseeva, chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group
S. A. Gannushkina, chair of the Civic Assistance Committee
O. P. Orlov, human rights defender

The following individuals sent emails expressing their support for the letter of appeal:

G. D. Dzhibladze, president of the Centre for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights
I. A. Kalyapin, chair of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture
M. A. Mutsolgov, journalist and human rights defender
V. V. Borshchev, human rights defender
V. N. Voinovich, writer
Y. A. Ryzhov, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences