The Chechen government says complaints about Ramzan Kadyrov's threat to ban human rights activists are ‘nonsense’

The Chechen government wants you to know that a letter to Vladimir Putin from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Front Line Defenders, complaining about Ramzan Kadyrov’s recent threats aimed at human rights activists, is in fact nothing more than “nonsense” and “a cry for attention.” According to Dzhambulat Umarov, a minister in Kadryov’s cabinet, the Chechen ruler’s announced ban on human rights activists only applies to “dishonest journalists” who come disguised as human rights activists to “slander” Chechnya.

Kadyrov’s spokesman told the newspaper Kommersant that the ruler had in mind “supporters of criminals who hide behind the name of human rights,” explaining that Kadyrov was talking about people who “carry out attacks and stab patrol officers in the back, killing innocent people.” You know: human rights activists. “Real human rights activists,” Kadyrov’s spokesman assures, are respected people who are welcome in Chechnya.

How did human rights get such a bad reputation with these people?

For obvious reasons, Chechnya’s authoritarian regime has no love for the intrepid activists and reporters who publicize the authorities’ human rights crimes. Kadyrov’s latest spat with independent journalists stems from the controversial drug-possession charges against Oyub Titiev, the head of the Memorial human rights group’s Grozny office. On August 22, Kadyrov said publicly that Titiev would be the last such activist allowed in Chechnya. “The same goes for terrorists and extremists,” Kadyrov said, lumping together all his enemies. “People calling themselves human rights activists have no right to be in my territory,” he said.

Two days before the speech, militants sponsored by the terrorist group ISIS attacked police officers in Grozny and the Shalinsky district. Afterwards, Chechen officials reportedly detained and interrogated as many as 200 teenagers about the attacks.