Time to end Chechnya's impunity after threats to Novaya Gazeta

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is very concerned about the safety of the staff of the independent Moscow-based newspaper Novaya Gazeta, who have been threatened by the Chechen authorities ever since it reported that gays are being persecuted in Chechnya. RSF calls on the Russian federal authorities to end the impunity enjoyed by Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov's regime.

A public meeting was held in the central mosque in Grozny, the Chechen capital, a few days after Novaya Gazeta's story on 1 April about the arrests and mistreatment of a hundred of suspected homosexuals in Chechnya, a story that has been picked up by media all over the world.

In the course of the meeting in Grozny, which was widely covered by the Chechen broadcast media, Adam Shakhidov, an adviser to President Kadyrov, accused Novaya Gazeta of defamation and referred to its journalists as "the enemies of our faith and our fatherland."

Twenty-four Chechen religious officials and other opinion makers signed a five-point resolution describing the newspaper's story as an "absolute lie (...) that besmirches the honour and reputation of Muslims, the inhabitants of Chechnya and Russian citizens" and warning the public that circulating it would be a "terrible sin."

"We pledge that the true instigators will eventually be punished, wherever they are and whoever they are, and that there will be no statute of limitations on this punishment," the resolution added.

Novaya Gazeta responded that the resolution "encourages religious fanatics to retaliate against journalists." And indeed, threats quickly began to appear on social networks.

In an interview for the Washington Post on 15 April, the journalist who wrote the story, Elena Milashina, said she was planning to flee Russia temporarily. Radio Echo of Moscow news editor Alexei Venediktov was threatened as well by the Chechen authorities for defending his fellow journalists.

Russian officials eventually reacted. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said the government was "categorically opposed" to any extra-judicial measure against journalists, and that any disputes should be settled in court. Yesterday, Russia's federal Investigative Committee said it was "verifying" whether threats had been made against journalists.

"The threats against Novaya Gazeta and Echo of Moscow are extremely disturbing and must be taken seriously," said Johann Bihr, the head of RSF's Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk.

"We note that a judicial investigation has begun, but much more is needed to challenge the horrendous impunity enjoyed by the Chechen authorities. After eradicating independent journalism within Chechnya, the Kadyrov regime is increasingly targeting Russia's national media. It's time for Moscow to put a stop to this."

Cracking down ever harder in Chechnya

Very little independent journalism still survives in Chechnya, an autonomous Russian republic that was traumatized by two bloody civil wars and has been ruled with an iron hand by Kadyrov since 2007.

The impunity enjoyed by those who masterminded well-known journalist Anna Politkovskaya's murder and those who murdered her colleague, Natalia Estemirova, have reinforced the climate of fear that prevails in the region.

The very few journalists who still dare to defy the official consensus and obligatory pro-government enthusiasm are warned or threatened, and pressure is put on relatives – a situation that RSF has documented in several reports. Harassment of critics has intensified in recent years and the least comment on social networks is now liable to have dire consequences.

Zhalaudi Geriyev, a young Chechen journalist who contributed to the independent news website Kavkazsky Uzel, was sentenced to three years in prison in September 2016.

Public figures of all kinds are liable to be abducted. Ruslan Martagov, a political analyst critical of the human rights situation in Chechnya, "disappeared" from 1 to 3 September 2016. Two academics were kidnapped in late March and early April 2016 only to reappear and make public "apologies." A third, tortured and then released, now leads the life of a recluse.

A new threshold was crossed when a minibus carrying Russian and foreign journalists and members of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture was attacked in neighbouring Ingushetia, just a few hundred metres from the Chechen border, on 9 March 2016. A score of masked men beat the passengers, forced them get out of the bus, and then set fire to it. The investigation drew a blank.

Kadyrov often describes independent journalists and members of Russia's liberal opposition as "traitors" and "enemies of the people."

Novaya Gazeta was awarded the RSF-Fondation de France Press Freedom Prize in 2006. Russia is ranked 148th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2016 World Press Freedom Index.