Translated material
Ruslan Kutaev is being asked to be excluded from the platform of the Russian opposition in PACE
The crisis group "SK SOS", which specializes in the evacuation of LGBT people facing violence from the North Caucasus, demanded that the former Chechen political prisoner and president of the "Assembly of the Peoples of the Caucasus" Ruslan Kutaev be removed from participation in the platform of the Russian democratic forces at PACE.
The group cited Kutaev’s statements on the YouTube channel The Breakfast Show on April 25 as the reason for the “SK SOS”. Kutaev’s words were seen as justification for domestic violence and “honor killings.”
Ruslan Kutaev, among other things, stated that he does not want to deal with the problems of escaped Chechen women and LGBTQ+ people. “I don’t want to deal with this issue. I am a representative of the conservative part of Chechen society. In Chechen society, such behavior is perceived not just painfully, but very, very seriously. And while defending the rights of minorities, we should not encroach on the rights of the majority. If people, for certain reasons, physiologies, behave and position themselves in some way, go about your business quietly, don’t put us on display, realizing that this offends us. I don’t know who is protecting these people. Nobody he didn’t contact me. And I can’t say anything here,” Ruslan Kutaev said in a conversation.
"SK SOS" also drew attention to Kutaev's words about "renegades and perverts" when he spoke about the heightened attitude of Chechens to the concept of "honor." “I assure you, we are not trying to be heroes, we are just trying equally, defending ourselves from Moscow’s henchmen, defending ourselves from some of our inner renegades, perverts, we are trying to preserve ourselves as the Chechen society that we have inherited for centuries, millennia. We like to be that way. That’s who we are,” said the interlocutor of The Breakfast Show.
Answering the question about “honor killings” and whether the family has the right to make decisions for an adult, Kutaev said: “It’s impossible to give an assessment now if you haven’t encountered it yourself. I want to say, I want you to hear, the decision is made by the family. This is exclusively. Whatever they do, kill, bring home, arrange a wedding, the family decides all this. That’s why, whether it’s good or bad, but everyone will judge it from their own, as they say, tower.”
"SK SOS" in this regard notes that LGBT people in Chechnya have been subjected to systemic repression for many years: they are detained on suspicion of homosexuality, caught on fake dates for ransom, tortured and killed. Women fleeing domestic violence are sought by relatives with the assistance of the authorities and often become victims of “honor killings.”
Human rights activists refer, in particular, to the death of Chechen woman Aishat Baimuradova. Baimuradova, who fled from domestic violence, was buried in Armenia at the expense of the state - none of her relatives came to pick up her body. The Armenian police are investigating a criminal case of the murder of a native of Chechnya: the suspects are two citizens of the Russian Federation who acted on the instructions of a “not yet identified person,” the Kavkaz.Realii website recalls.
Justification of practices that contradict the right to life is incompatible with the platform created to protect human rights and freedoms, the SK SOS crisis group emphasizes. The publication states the intention to send a letter to the PACE Bureau and the Chairman of the Assembly Petra Bayer with a request to evaluate the statements of Ruslan Kutaev.
- On January 26, the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) approved the participants in the platform of Russian democratic forces in exile. It included 15 people: ten of them were Russian opposition figures living abroad, another five were appointed under a special quota as representatives of the indigenous peoples of Russia.
Ruslan Kutaev is being asked to be excluded from the platform of the Russian opposition in PACE