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Report documents practice of collective punishment by Chechen authorities

 

On July 2, Human Rights Watch published a report titled “What Your Children Do Will Touch Upon You” (click here to read) conducted in close cooperation with Human Rights Center Memorial. The report documents in close detail numerous cases of house burnings of Chechen families whose relatives are alleged members of the armed underground resistance. The practice is used by Chechen authorities as a means of coercion and punishment of parents and family members of alleged militants for allowing their children to join the resistance. Cases of physical punishment and humiliation of supposed abettors of militants have also been reported by Memorial. All thirteen cases documented in the report follow a similar pattern of armed law enforcement personnel arriving at night and setting the house on fire after escorting the family outside while waiting for the fire to catch on and prevent outside help in putting the fire out. Families are forced to watch their residence burn down and are then threatened with violence if the victims choose to file complaints with authorities. As a result, only three out of the thirteen families affected chose to file complaints with authorities none of which have been properly investigated. One of the results of the intimidation tactic is the permeating fear that swept the republic, silencing people about abuses by authorities. And not a single militant came back from the mountains to the folds of peaceful life as a result of the unofficial, but tacitly approved policy.  
 
Although the practice is not acknowledged as an official government policy by Chechen or Russian authorities, Ramzan Kadyrov, president of Chechnya, has made numerous public statements in which he specifically stated that family members of alleged militants should not be “left alone” and that the notion that they are unaware of their relatives’ whereabouts is unacceptable. In a recent meeting with Chechen Interior Minister Ruslan Alkhanov broadcast on Grozny TV, Ramzan Kadyrov instructed Alkhanov to step up the pressure on relatives of militants in response to a recent spate of deadly attacks on Chechen authorities. In most cases documented by the HRW report, law enforcement and local administration officials first pressured family members to convince their relatives to return from the forest wherefrom militants launch their attacks. In other cases, the houses were burned immediately after attacks on authorities during which casualties or injuries occurred and were clearly used as a means of retribution. It is evident therefore, that the approval  to carry out the house burnings comes from the top echelons of the Chechen government and is an integral part of an overall strategy to combat the militancy.
 
The widespread use of this brutal and criminal tactic by law enforcement officials and the complete lack of investigation into the acts are demonstrative of complete and total impunity with which law enforcement authorities under Kadyrov’s command operate within Chechnya. It is illegal and immoral for authorities to victimize parents and relatives of alleged militants for their actions. Furthermore, it is unclear what incentives or guarantees parents and relatives can make to militants in order to convince them to return after Ramzan Kadyrov retracted the amnesty program which guaranteed safety and freedom to militants who agreed to lay down their arms. The practice is therefore highly ineffective and only serves as a means of punishment and persecution while furthering radicalizing of the population.