ICRF refuses to check threats against Yangulbaevs

The Chechen branch of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) has refused to conduct an inquiry into the threats addressed to the Yangulbaev family, voiced earlier by high-ranking Chechen law enforcers. Human rights defenders intend to appeal against this ICRF's refusal.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 1, Adam Delimkhanov, a Russian State Duma MP from Chechnya, posted a video clip on the Instagram, in which he threatened, in the Chechen language, to kill the Yangulbaev family and punish those who would translate his words into Russian. Following him, a number of high-ranking Chechen law enforcers and officials came out with a sharp condemnation of the Yangulbaev family, addressed them with curses and insults and threatened with execution.

On March 30, Sergey Babinets, the head of the "Committee against Torture" (CaT)*, posted a scan of the response received from the Chechen branch of the ICRF to his appeal, in which he had asked investigators to conduct checks on the fact of threats voiced out by high-ranking Chechen law enforcers against relatives of the human rights defender, Abubakar Yangulbaev.

"Currently, there are no grounds for conducting a check in accordance with Articles 144, 145 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation on the facts you have stated," the ICRF said in its response.

In its appeal the CaT* cited the statements of the State Duma MP from Chechnya, Adam Delimkhanov, and the Chechen Deputy Prime Minister, Abuzaid Vismuradov, who threatened the Yangulbaev family with murder, Mr Babinets has explained. "Of course, I'll appeal against the response received today from the ICRF. But the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) has not yet found time to respond to our similar appeal, and for some reason remains silent (I hope it is conducting a comprehensive and objective check)," Sergey Babinets wrote on March 30 in his Telegram channel.

*In 2015, the Committee against Torture (CaT) was included into the register of NGOs performing the functions of a foreign agent. In this regard, its managers have liquidated the organization and created a new legal entity – the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT). It was also included into the list of foreign agents; and the organization was closed. Currently, the CaT operates as an unregistered public association.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 31, 2022 at 07:02 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.