Decades after conflict, Russia’s relentless hunt of Chechens continues

Twenty years after Vladimir Putin flattened their capital Grozny in the identical manner that his forces are actually destroying Mariupol, Chechens refugees in Europe nonetheless reside in worry of Russia’s lengthy arm.

Tens of 1000’s fled the small Muslim-majority republic within the North Caucasus within the aftermath of two bloody wars with Moscow, the final launched by Putin in 1999 to deliver the breakaway area to heel.

The Russian chief later put in Ramzan Kadyrov as Chechnya’s strongman. He has since ruthlessly suppressed all opposition, and by no means tires of declaring his ferocious loyalty to Putin.

Austria has one among Europe’s largest Chechen communities. Many of the 35,000 exiles reside in nondescript post-war blocks in a working class district of northeastern Vienna. The males are likely to work as safety guards whereas girls deliver up the youngsters.

But many on these streets dotted with Chechen grocery retailers and wedding ceremony boutiques reside in dread.

Dozens instructed AFP of the fixed menace of being focused by Kadyrov’s infamous henchmen, the “Kadyrovtsy”, who’ve been accused of searching down his opponents overseas.

Others are afraid of being despatched again to be tortured and killed — a worry that’s removed from unfounded in response to human rights teams.

Before the conflict in Ukraine, extraditions of Chechens from Europe to Russia had been being sped up after the fear assault on the Boston Marathon and the grotesque homicide of a French trainer by a younger exile.

Despite the battle, there are not any indicators the deportations will cease.

‘REWRITING HISTORY’

Grozny was described as probably the most destroying metropolis on Earth after the Russian siege of town throughout the second conflict. (Photo: AFP)

Moscow’s arm reached Zorbek Nazuev, a grandfather with an extended gray beard who has lived in Austria for 18 years, final February.

He had fled there along with his kids after the second battle fearing retribution for preventing with the “boeviki”, the Chechen rebels who defeated the Russians throughout the first conflict between 1994 and 1996, when Chechnya briefly gained its independence.

He had heard nothing from Moscow since he left till a letter from the Austrian prosecutor’s workplace arrived accusing him of terrorism and homicide.

According to a doc seen by AFP, prosecutors declare to have intelligence that he took half in a bloodbath of Russian civilians in 1995.

Nazuev denies that he “killed innocent people”, insisting that he and different Chechen fighters had been solely “defending ourselves from the Russian invader”.

“They are rewriting history,” mentioned the thickset man in his 50s, whose identify has been modified to guard him.

Nazuev wonders if the costs and potential extradition he’s dealing with could possibly be linked to the truth that one among his relations fought in Syria with the Islamic State group.

The Austrian authorities refused to debate the case regardless of quite a few makes an attempt by AFP via police and judicial sources.

AGREEMENT WITH RUSSIA

Hundreds of Chechens have been expelled from the European Union because it signed a 2006 settlement with Russia to ease the return of convicted suspects or these topic to an Interpol crimson discover.

No official statistics on the extraditions exist, however the Council of Europe denounced the abuse of the Interpol system by some nations to “persecute political opponents abroad” in a 2017 report.

Living in worry: A younger exile in Vienna sporting a Chechen ring covers his face. (Photo: AFP)

Exiles additionally consider European nations have toughened their line in opposition to them due to terror fears after Chechens had been concerned in a lot of jihadist assaults.

“Clearly security services are on alert” to attempt to forestall future assaults, mentioned Anne le Huerou, an professional on post-Soviet conflicts at Paris Nanterre University.

Indeed, after the killing of French trainer Samuel Paty by a Chechen refugee in October 2020, Austria created a particular pressure to deal with extremism and “parallel societies” inside its Chechen group.

A month after Paty’s homicide, Vienna suffered its first ever Islamist assault when 4 folks had been killed by a person mentioned to be jihadist sympathiser, with authorities lambasted for surveillance failures within the run-up to the assault.

Just over a 12 months later in December 2021, Austria chartered a flight to deport 10 folks to Russia, boasting of its “efficient cooperation” with Moscow.

Questioned by AFP, the Austrian authorities admitted that at the moment “four Russian nationals are in custody awaiting deportation.”

Despite industrial flights with Russia being lower by sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine, the expulsions are nonetheless reside, in response to the Austrian inside ministry.

TORTURED IN GROZNY

“I’d rather kill myself here than go back,” mentioned Nazuev, who claimed he was left handicapped after he was tortured with electrical shocks earlier than he fled Chechyna.

Loyal ‘foot soldier’: Chechnya’s strongman chief Ramzan Kadyrov (proper) is fiercely loyal to Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Photo: AFP)

Moscow has frequently assured European governments that Chechen exiles despatched again to Russia can be pretty handled.

However, a number of have been killed or disappeared, whereas others have been tortured or convicted on costs that human rights group say had been “fabricated”.

Last month the Russian rights group Memorial — which has since been banned by Moscow — criticised France for turning a blind eye to the dying of 20-year-old Daud Muradov, who was despatched again to Russia in December 2020 after being deemed a safety threat.

At the top of final 12 months he was transferred to Grozny the place he was tortured, they mentioned.

His kin had been instructed in February that he was useless. They haven’t been given his physique nor the outcomes of a autopsy, Memorial added.

KILLED IN VIENNA

But much more than extradition, Chechen exiles worry the assassins that Kadyrov sends to liquidate his opponents in exile.

The Austrian courts singled out the Chechen chief for being concerned within the killing of one among his opponents who was shot in Vienna in 2009 after criticising Kadyrov’s human rights document. The sufferer’s lawyer, Nadia Lorenz, instructed AFP that the case “still stops me sleeping”, claiming that “correspondence between the Austrian courts and Grozny” allowed the killers to pinpoint the place her shopper lived.

Stigmatised: Activist Rosa Dunaeva at a Vienna protest in opposition to deportations of Chechen exiles from Austria. (Photo: AFP)

Just a few days earlier than he was shot, father-of-four Umar Israylov had been refused police safety regardless of being adopted on the street.

The case threw the highlight on how Kadyrov’s killers work, with prosecutors satisfied he gave the order for Israylov’s assassination.

According to Israylov’s widow, the Chechen chief known as her husband twice earlier than he was shot, demanding he return to Russia instantly.

But Kadyrov’s function was by no means absolutely aired as a result of Moscow ignored Vienna’s requires assist with the investigation.

Chechen activist Rosa Dunaeva insists the “Kadyrovtsy” had been answerable for one other hit in Vienna in July 2020 in addition to comparable killings in Lille, France, earlier that 12 months and in Istanbul in 2011.

HARASSMENT

“The media give the impression that we are involved in crime and religious extremism, when the vast majority of Chechens are living in fear and don’t want anything to do with politics anymore,” mentioned Dunaeva at one of many common protests in opposition to the deportations.

Indeed many Chechens are nicely built-in in Austria, like judo champion Shamil Borchashvili, who gained a bronze medal on the Tokyo Olympics final 12 months.

Or Zelimkhan Kazan. The 19-year-old — whose identify we’ve got modified for his security — was born in Austria and has by no means been to Chechnya. He is learning programming and has already arrange two start-ups.

“I work and have everything I need but I don’t feel 100 percent safe,” mentioned the blended martial arts (MMA) fan as he labored out by the Danube Canal.

“There is no way I could get away with the things an Austrian teenager might do — for me it would be a death sentence,” he insisted, that means deportation to Russia.

Kazan, who has no Russian papers, however solely go away to remain in Austria, can’t be naturalised within the nation he was born in due to Vienna’s strict nationality legal guidelines.

Which could make life tough when Kazan says plainclothes police cease him “three or four times a month” to test his papers.

“Some call me a faggot, hoping that I will react violently,” he added.

All the Chechen refugees AFP talked to mentioned they felt focused by the police, with the slightest conflict resulting in a conviction that might see them being deported.

Last July Austrian cops had been discovered responsible of beating a Chechen after being caught on safety cameras.

KADYROV’S ‘BRAINWASHING’

Cult of masculinity: A younger Chechen works out in a Vienna park. (Photo: AFP)

Kazan additionally has to run the gauntlet of the “Kadyrovtsy”, who stand out due to their huge vehicles and their swagger. When he sees them, he pulls down his hood so they do not ask him any questions.

Activist Dunaeva is as anxious in regards to the rising grip Ramzan Kadyrov — who has an unlimited social media following — has on younger Chechens born in Europe. “When he is not killing them, he brainwashes them and tries to turn them against the West,” she mentioned.

Chechens additionally discuss cocaine dealing that’s destroying the lives of younger males who see no future and are straightforward prey for Mafia clans. And girls complain of getting their freedom curtailed by their “big brothers”.

Angered by the discrimination they face in Austria, some fall into the charismatic Kadyrov’s lure, and are straightforward fodder for his macho posturing on social media, dividing households who had fled his grip.

“The regime also promises good career prospects for young Chechens educated in Europe who return” to their homeland, French professional Le Huerou mentioned. “The anti-gay propaganda which celebrates masculinity can also be attractive” for some Chechens steeped within the nation’s martial mythology.

A contingent of 1 thousand Chechens had been reportedly despatched by Kadyrov to battle for Moscow in Ukraine. But different Chechens are additionally preventing alongside the Ukrainians, a number of sources instructed AFP.

And among the many hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the preventing, a younger Chechen girl travelling together with her son was arrested in Romania. Courts there have already ordered her extradition, accusing her of “being part of an armed group opposed to the Russian Federation”. Her attraction has now been rejected.

Russia could have began a brand new conflict, however its hunt of Chechens continues unabated.

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