From March 2022 to June 2024, 174 administrative cases of “discrediting” the Russian army were recorded in the regions of the North Caucasus. Criminal cases of “repeated discrediting” and “disseminating fakes” were opened against 17 people. The Memorial Human Rights Defense Center has this information.
According to human rights activists, a special situation has developed in Chechnya. There, it is almost impossible to collect statistics on persecution, because opponents of the war are more often “punished” unofficially - through violence, pressure on relatives, etc.
“Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, residents of the republics of the North Caucasus, despite the increased risks, have been speaking out en masse against the war. The authorities persecute them in various ways: they initiate administrative and criminal cases, send them for forced treatment, torture them, and threaten their relatives,” the human rights activists shared.
