February 02, 2022

Chechen authorities threaten activist to silence resistance

topic:	Political violence
located:	Russia
editor:	Andrew Getto

This week, the Russian media space was shaken by the senior Chechen leadership’s claims, which were even more radical than usual. One member of the Chechen Republic’s federal parliament, Adam Delimkhanov, directly threatened his enemies with death, and a very gruesome one at that. The anger of former Islamist insurgents, now at the helm of Putin’s Chechnya, is directed against a phenomenon they cannot grasp: social media.

“Know this: day and night, [...] we will chase you, until we cut your heads off and kill you. We do have a war and a blood feud with you,” Delimkhanov said in his Instagram Live stream, adding that the same fate awaits those who dare translate his passage into Russian.

The people that the state employee has sworn to decapitate are the Yangulbayev family, two younger members of which are engaged in human rights work. Last week, Chechen police conducted a raid in the Russian mainland, beating and capturing the dissidents’ 53-year old diabetic mother. The head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, accused the Yangulbayev brothers, as well as journalists covering the issue, of assisting terrorists, and expressed certainty that they will end up in jail or in the ground.

Russia’s last remaining big independent media outlets, Echo of Moscow, Novaya Gazeta and TV Rain, did not take Kadyrov’s likening of their staff to terrorists well, and demanded the authorities to intervene. So far, the Kremlin has shrugged off murder threats made by senior politicians as something completely irrelevant. But is it solely due to damaged pride that the Chechen ruler is so eager to take down the Yangulbayev family?

The threats could suggest that Kadyrov’s regime faces a real threat to their dominance over information. While official local media are busy singing praises to Ramzan Kadyrov, like their colleagues from other oriental dictatorships in Turkmenistan, Russian liberal media are not particularly influential inside the republic and have almost no opportunity to work there. However, Kadyrov’s new enemies are young Chechens, who start their own social media platforms and post some very unpleasant content.

One of the Yangulbayev brothers is allegedly linked to 1ADAT, the biggest news house, which features fiery anti-Kadyrov rhetoric and is trusted by veteran journalists. Turkish resident Khasan Khalitov publishes prank calls with Kadyrov’s men, frustrating them with uncomfortable questions. Another Telegram channel, Security Turkey, does something more tech-savvy: using open data, it tracks down the geoposition of Kadyrov’s officials in Turkey to protect local Chechen émigrés from encounters with their enemies, who are well known for their assassination attempts abroad.

In this light and from his viewpoint, Kadryov's rage is understandable. He has imposed a reality where he can kidnap, imprison, torture or kill anyone whom he dislikes. However, the leaders running Chechnya do not seem to understand three things.

First, that their violence has gone too far, even for a land infamous for its cult of hyper-masculinity and blood-feuds. Second, their demonstrative violence is undermining their own authority more than any 20-year-old amateur journalist could. And thirdly, that they can assassinate people, but they cannot assassinate concepts like social media and free reporting. 

Photo by Valery Tenevoy

Call to Action

Donate to CPJ and defend the right of journalists to report without fear

Support now