Relatives of missing (presumably killed) residents of Chechnya were forced to write statements about their departure to Syria

Relatives of residents of Chechnya, who were detained last winter and then disappeared, were forced to write statements that they left for Syria or simply left and did not return home. This is reported by BBC Russian Service.

We are talking about people who, according to Novaya Gazeta , could have been killed in Grozny on the night of January 26. The newspaper article came out on 9 July; the Chechen authorities called it a lie.

The BBC Russian Service contacted the relatives of those whose names were published by Novaya Gazeta. The publication managed to confirm the information about the disappearance of several of them. Family members of the missing said that in December 2016, the police took them from their homes under the pretense of interrogation; they did not see them again.

Some of the publication’s interlocutors, on condition of anonymity, said that relatives of the missing were forced to sign statements explaining their disappearance, including their departure to Syria.

“[The relatives of the missing] were taken away and not released until they signed [statements] that their relatives were taken away, but they do not know who took them. As if they didn’t come from the ROVD [and took it away], no one knows who took it,” one of them is quoted by the BBC.

In a number of cases, security forces demanded documents from relatives of the missing. “I think they just want to take away [documents] so that there is no evidence that he did not leave for Syria,” one of the BBC’s interlocutors said.

Those who turned to the republican department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation were threatened, sources say.

Until now, there is no information about the whereabouts of the 27 missing people that Novaya Gazeta wrote about. The BBC Russian Service was unable to confirm the information about their deaths. However, we managed to make sure that at least several people whose names are on the list of Novaya Gazeta were indeed detained in December last year. The family has not seen them since.

Russian service "BBC"

• In July, Novaya Gazeta, citing sources, reported that at least 27 people who had previously been detained by law enforcement agencies could have been killed in Grozny in January. According to the newspaper, these people were detained after attacks on police officers in December. The Chechen authorities called this publication, as well as other reports of murders and torture committed by security forces in the republic, a lie.
• In December 2016, a group of militants carried out several attacks on police officers in Grozny. At least three traffic police officers were killed. Most of the attackers were killed during the special operation, a few were detained. Later, the "Caucasian Knot" reported that three detainees were killed in the hospital. The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, called it "an impudent and vile lie."
• In January, Ramzan Kadyrov announced the arrest of more than 60 militants who were planning attacks led by a native of Chechnya in Syria. A significant part of the detainees were residents of the village of Tsotsi-Yurt. In the future, nothing was reported about their fate.