Member of the Russian opposition platform at PACE Ruslan Kutaev said that “honor killings” in Chechnya are a family affair

The human rights group SK SOS, which helps residents of the North Caucasus who are trying to leave their homes due to violence, demanded that Russian opposition platform member Ruslan Kutaev be removed from PACE after he actually justified “honor killings” in Chechnya. Dozhd reports this.

On air on the YouTube channel The Breakfast Show, Kutaev, when asked whether a family in Chechnya has the right to kill one of its members for “shame,” responded with a counter question: “Does a family member have the right to disgrace this family?”

The decision [what to do] is made solely by the family. Neither Kadyrov, nor Zakayev, nor Putin influence the decision-making. Whatever they do: kill, bring home, kick out, arrange a wedding - all this is decided by the family.

Kutaev also noted that he considers representatives of the LGBTQ community in Chechnya “renegades and perverts.”

The SK SOS group announced that it would send an official letter to the PACE bureau and the chairman of the organization demanding an assessment of Kutaev’s statements.

• The platform of Russian democratic forces under PACE was created for the purpose of dialogue with European parliamentarians in order to “represent the interests of anti-war Russians.” She started work at the end of January.
• In total, the platform consists of 15 people. Ruslan Kutaev is one of five participants who represent the indigenous peoples of Russia on the platform. He is the president of the public organization “Assembly of the Peoples of the Caucasus”; in the 1990s, Kutaev was deputy prime minister of the self-proclaimed republic of Ichkeria.