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Russia continues to persecute Chechens in Europe, 20 years after the war

Russia continues to persecute Chechens in Europe, 20 years after the war

Its capital, Grozny, suffered the same fate as the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, leveled by Russian bombs. Twenty years later, Chechen refugees in Europe they continue to live in fear of Russia.

Tens of thousands have fled Russia’s small Muslim-majority republic after two bloody wars. The last one, started by Vladimir Putin in 1999, led to power the fearsome Ramzan Kadyrova man close to the Kremlin accused of ruthlessly cracking down on his critics.

Austria (a country of nine million inhabitants) has received some 35,000 Chechens, out of the 350,000 who went into exile in Europe, making the country the largest reception center for this diaspora, proportionally to its population.

In the capital, Vienna, they have settled mainly in the northeast, in a popular district of uniform housing built after the WWII. Men tend to work as security employees while women take care of the children.

But, beneath the calm appearance of this neighborhood of cheap pizzerias, traditional wedding dress shops and food stores, dozens of Chechen refugees recount their anguish.

There are those who fear being returned to Russia overnight, with the risk of being tortured or killed (as denounced by human rights organizations), at a time when deportation procedures have been accelerated after Chechen Islamists carried out attacks on the European Union (EU).

But they are also afraid of becoming a target of the commandos of “Kadyrovtsy”Kadyrov’s men, accused by NGOs of murdering opponents, even outside the borders of Chechnya.

extradition threat

Zorbek Nazuyev, a man in his 50s who prefers not to give his real name, has been in exile in Austria for 18 years. And he hadn’t heard from Russia until last February.

He, who fought in the first Chechen war (1994-1996) with the “boyeviki”, the local fighters who faced the Russian federal troops, took the path of exile after the second war, for fear of reprisals. And in Austria rebuilt his life with his numerous offspring.

Until he received a letter from the Austrian Prosecutor’s Office, a document (consulted by AFP), in which he is accused of homicide and terrorism for having participated in massacres of Russian civilians in 1995.

But Nazuyev denies having “killed innocents”: “We defended ourselves against the invader” Russian. “They are rewriting history”affirms this man, now a grandfather, angrily, who speaks on the condition that he not give his real name.

Nazuyev wonders if this sudden interest in judging him has nothing to do with the presence in his family of a jihadist who fought in Syria with the Islamic State.

Despite numerous requests from AFP, the Austrian authorities did not want to talk about this case. The police and judicial sources did not wish to express themselves either.

In 2006, the European Union (EU) concluded a readmission agreement with the Russian government to facilitate the return of persons sentenced to justice or who had a “red notice” of Interpol (a request to law enforcement agencies around the world to locate and provisionally arrest a person) issued by Moscow.

charter flights

Hundreds of Chechens were victims of this agreement (although no official statistics are available), something that international organizations frequently denounce.

In a 2017 report, the Council of Europe (formed by 46 countries) denounced “abusive use of the system” of Interpol by some States, which use it to “persecute political opponents abroad”.

But the Chechen community denounces that the EU countries hardened their policy for fear of attacks.

“It is quite clear that an alert was issued to the services” intelligence to try to prevent future attacks, considers Anne le Huerouspecialist of post-Soviet conflicts of the French University Paris-Ouest Nanterre.

Following the murder in France in October 2020 of Professor Samuel Paty at the hands of a Chechen refugee, Austria created an intervention force to fight against “extremist tendencies” and the “parallel companies” within the Chechen community.

A month later, in November, Austria was hit in Vienna by Islamist terrorism for the first time, and the government was accused of lowering the level of surveillance, so they have been doubly cautious ever since.

In December 2021, Austria organized a charter flight for ten people, boasting of “effective cooperation on repatriation” with Russia.

Responding to AFP on the matter, the government states that “four Russian citizens are currently detained with a view to their expulsion”. Expulsions that, according to the Ministry of Interiorcontinue their course despite the fact that commercial flights between Russia Y Austria by war in ukraine.

Tortured in Grozny

“Rather than return I prefer to kill myself here”he confesses, with a gesture of horror, Zorbek Nazuevwho claims to have a disability after being tortured with electric shocks in Chechnya.

If convicted, he risks having his refugee status withdrawn and being extradited.

For its part, Russia promises, both to the European authorities and to the Chechens themselves, good treatment for the exiles who return to Russia.

However, several of them disappeared, were tortured, convicted on charges that NGOs consider fabricated, or killed.

On April 4, the Russian organization Memorial criticized the fact that France had not listened to the plea of Daoud Muradova 20-year-old who was expelled in December 2020 for a possible risk to state security.

At the end of 2021, he was taken to a prison in Grozny where he suffered torture, according to this NGO dissolved by Moscow recently.

In February, his relatives received the news of his death, but they still have not been able to access the conclusions of the forensic examination, nor recover his body, explained Memorial.

Murder in Vienna

If it is not extradition, the Chechens also fear the commandos sent by Kadyrov to eliminate their opponents wherever they are.

The Austrian justice pointed out the importance of the Chechen leader, who has governed the territory since 2007, in the shooting murder in Vienna, in January 2009, of one of his opponents, a direct witness to Kadyrov’s human rights violations.

A case that still “prevents sleep” to his lawyer, Nadia Lorenzwhich considers that “the correspondence between the Austrian courts and the one in Grozny made it possible to locate the residence” of your client.

Days before being shot down, Umar Israelovfather of four children, asked in vain for police protection, after having seen that he was being followed down the street.

The process exposed Russia’s operating model. For the Prosecutor’s Office, Kadyrov was the one who gave the order.

Israilov’s widow says that the Chechen leader called her husband twice before the crime to ask him to come back immediately.

On the other hand, all the requests for judicial cooperation with Russia remained a dead letter.

Rosa Dunaievaa Chechen activist in her 40s, says there are other crimes by the “Kadyrovtsy”: istanbul in September 2011, Lille (France) in January 2020 and Vienna in July 2020.

Life on hold in Europe

“The media associates us with crime and religious extremism despite the fact that most Chechens have a low profile and do not get involved in politics”explains Dunaieva, that when she is not organizing demonstrations against the expulsions of Chechens, she works part-time as a saleswoman.

Examples of integration in Austria are numerous, such as the case of the judoka Shamil Borchashvili26, who won the bronze medal for this country at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Or Zelimkhan Kazan, 19, who was already born in Austria and doesn’t know Chechnya, and has set up two start-up projects outside of his computer science studies.

“I work and I have everything I need, but I don’t feel 100% safe”laments this mixed martial arts (MMA) fanatic, while doing bodybuilding work near the Danube Canal. “It is unimaginable to do the same nonsense as an Austrian teenager. In my case, it would be a death sentence.”.

Kazan, who does not have any official Russian documents, and only an Austrian safe-conduct, cannot obtain the nationality of his host country because blood law prevails in Austria.

In Vienna, it is rare the month in which undercover police officers do not ask for your documentation “three or four times”affirms this young man, who prefers not to say his real name.

All the Chechen refugees who spoke to AFP say they are targets of the security forces, and that the slightest provocative gesture towards a law enforcement official can lead to a conviction and expulsion from Austria.

In July 2021, several police officers were sentenced after footage emerged of a beating they gave to a Chechen, believing there were no surveillance cameras.

Zelimkhan Kazan must also be careful with the “Kadyrovtsy”, whom he recognizes for their great cars and the self-confidence they exude. When he passes them, he puts on his hood so they won’t ask him any questions.

Rosa Dunaieva is concerned about Kadyrov’s weight among young Chechens born in the EU. “If it doesn’t kill them, it brainwashes them, turns them against us or against Western countries”.

Chechens speak of cocaine dealers destroying the lives of many young people, who do not see a hopeful future, and enter a system of mafia clans. Girls born in Europe complain, for their part, of the control exercised over them by “Older brothers”.

And, tired of this permanent discrimination, many fall into Kadyrov’s trap, whose messages they receive through social networks, where the Chechen leader has millions of followers.

“The regime underlines the possibilities of making a career for those who have been educated in Europe and wish to return to Chechnya”explains the researcher Anne Le Huerou. “Homophobic propaganda and the exaltation of masculinity also work”.

Since the beginning of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, “about a thousand” volunteers sent by Kadyrov fight alongside the Russians in the Ukraine. But there are also Chechens who have joined the Ukrainian ranks, as various sources tell AFP.

Among the millions of refugees who fled bombing in Ukraine, a young Chechen woman was arrested after arriving in Romania with her son. According to the justice of that country, which ordered her extradition, she is accused of “participation in an armed group with objectives contrary to the Russian Federation”. His appeal was rejected this week.

Source: Gestion

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