ICG calls on Kremlin to attend finance and power agents in Chechnya
The Russian government should ensure the accountability of Chechen authorities to local residents, as well as take control over Chechen power agents and spending of budget funds in the republic. This is stated in the report of the International Crisis Group (ICG) "Chechnya: Internal Abroad".
The report contains recommendations to the Russian government, the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) and the General Prosecutor's Office (GPO) of the country, as well as to the Council of Europe. Its relevance was reported by Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya and Varvara Pakhomenko, an expert and consultant of the ICG, accordingly.
Despite the fact that Chechnya has made great strides in suppressing the underground, urban regeneration, and improving its image and official economic indicators, this stability is deceptive, the document says. According to Sokiryanskaya, it is difficult to work in the republic, as people are scared.
The ICG experts believe that the state should ensure more freedom and security of citizens of the Chechen Republic, as well as accountability of the republic's authorities to the population. The ICG states that residents of Chechnya "have no mechanisms for making authorities accountable."
Experts also stated "the widely used in the republic principle of collective responsibility," when "militants' relatives are persecuted, taken hostage; and their houses are destroyed.
Among the militants, the ideas of Chechen nationalism have gradually given way to the ideology of transnational jihadism, the report says.
Last year, Chechnya was the only region of Northern Caucasus, where, according to calculations of the "Caucasian Knot", a growth in the count of victims of the armed conflict was registered. In Chechnya, in 2014, 117 people fell victim to the conflict, while in 2013, there were 101 victims.
The judiciary system of Chechnya is also criticized by experts. The revival of traditionalism is mostly affecting women: violence against them, "honour killings" and marriages with minors are now met more frequently, the report says.
Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.