GROZNY, June 18. /TASS/. President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov has called the Committee Against Torture human rights group a corrupt organization and accused it of trying to discredit the republic, the Chechen leader’s press service said.
"What is this committee doing here? We have no war, no one is tortured, people are not kidnapped. Today Chechnya is the most peaceful region, even prosperous Europe acknowledges that," Kadyrov said. "I’ll tell you what they are doing. They find down and outs, for example, drug addicts and say to them, "Write a complaint against Kadyrov, and you will get some money."
According to Kadyrov, human rights activists are on grant-givers’ payroll. "They have no task to protect people, they are corrupt, they have an office in America, and they are doing everything to discredit our republic. Of course, we have human rights groups going about their usual business, let them work," Kadyrov said.
On June 3, Igor Kalyapin, the head of the Committee Against Torture, reported an attack on the organization’s office in Grozny. Specifically, he said the police was reluctant to take any measures towards stopping the attackers for almost two hours. Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov later did not rule out a premeditated provocation of the attack by people working for the Committee Against Torture.
Chechnya’s Interior Ministry said an criminal case had been opened on the incident under the "Property Damage" article.