To whom retaliation and who will reward

The Mufti of Chechnya Salah Mezhiev said that the authors of publications on the persecution of homosexuals in Chechnya would suffer "Allah's retribution." This was reported by the radio station "Speak Moscow".

"I do not want to call these people people. This creature will answer the letter of the law. About retaliation: the retribution of the Allah Almighty will certainly overtake them. They not only overtook the feelings of some - they caught up the whole Chechen people, caught the clergy, hurt the most holy. They had to be afraid when they spread unreasonable slander. It was necessary to be afraid that they would be held accountable. They will answer, they will answer according to the letter of the Law of the Russian Federation, ”said Mezhiev.

So the cleric commented on the statement of Novaya Gazeta about the threats received from Chechnya to her employees.

According to Interfax, the press secretary of Vladimir Putin Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the Kremlin received the head of the editor-in-chief of the "new" Dmitry Muratov about threats to journalists. There are legal ways to dispute slanderous publications, the official said. "Illegal methods of influence" on journalists, he assured, in the Kremlin is not approved.

At the same time, Peskov noted that he did not know about the persecution of homosexuals in Chechnya and appeals on these facts to law enforcement officers.

The member of the Human Rights Council, Chechnya Hed Saratov, said that the people discussed in the article “Novaya Gazeta” were detained last December for aiding terrorism, and not for unconventional orientation, RBC reports . Saratova again called the "slander" of the statement about the presence of homosexuals in Chechnya. Earlier, she stated that the Chechen society would not even condemn the "extreme measure" against such people. Saratova later explained these statements with her "insanity."

Meanwhile, the Presidium of the Union of Journalists of Moscow called on the authorities to stop threats to the journalists of the "Novy". “The Presidium of the Moscow Union cannot be silent and inactive in this situation,” the statement published on the official website of the organization said. “We insist that the Russian authorities, the Investigative Committee suppress such actions that prevent journalists from fulfilling their professional duty and enduring the life of media workers.”

The open threats received from Chechnya at the address of journalists, "Novy" reported on Thursday . As stated in the publication, on April 3, a meeting of authoritative religious and public figures was held in Chechnya, at which Adam Shahidov, adviser to the head of the region, Ramzan Kadyrov, publicly accused the journalists of the publication of slander and called them "enemies of our faith and our homeland." The meeting adopted a resolution calling for "retaliation" "instigators". The performances of Shahidov and other theologians were broadcast on Chechen television and spread widely in social networks, causing an exclusive of intolerable comments. In the "Novy" statements made in Chechnya as a direct call for reprisal against journalists. "

After the release of this publication, the publication’s website was subjected to DDOS Atak.

According to Mediazona with reference to Andrei Sabinin’s lawyer, on Friday the New Gazeta appealed to the Basmanny District Court of Moscow with a complaint about the inaction of the TFR after publications on the persecution of homosexuals in Chechnya. The publication asks to recognize the inaction of the chairman of the department Alexander Bastrykin illegal and oblige him to start checking the facts set forth in the articles.

Meanwhile, a group of experts in the Office of the Supreme Commissioner of the UN Human Rights issued a statement in connection with reports on the persecution of homosexuals in Chechnya. "We urge the authorities to put an end to the persecution of persons in the Chechen Republic, who are considered gays or bisexuals and who live in an atmosphere of fear supported by homophobic statements of local authorities," the document says. Experts also called for investigating all cases of illegal detentions, torture, abductions and murders of homosexuals.

On April 1, the New Gazeta published an article by Elena Milashina about the mass detentions of Chechen men who are suspected of homosexuality. As stated in the publication, more than 100 people were detained. In Chechnya, this information was called a lie. At the same time, officials denied the very presence of homosexuals in the region and at the same time stated that homosexuals deserve death.

On April 5, another article of Milashina appeared. It reported that the detainees were kept in a secret prison in Argun. The initiators of the persecution in the publication were named the speaker of the Chechnya Parliament Magomed Daudov (Lord) and the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Argun Ayub Kataev.