Police in the republic of Chechnya's capital have refused to open a criminal case against regional leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s son over his assault of a Russian teenager on video, the Baza Telegram channel reported Wednesday, citing internal police documents.
Adam Kadyrov, 15, was shown last month kicking and punching Nikita Zhuravel, 19, who was arrested in the southern region of Volgograd on accusations of publicly burning the Quran and later transferred to Chechnya, a conservative, majority-Muslim region.
Grozny police refused to launch a criminal case against Adam Kadyrov because he is younger than the minimum age for criminal liability, Baza reported.
According to the documents, the investigation started in August when Grozny police were notified that Zhuravel had been beaten while in pre-trial custody.
Following the video's publication, Russia's human rights commissioner Tatiana Moskalkova said Zhuravel “must be kept [in pre-trial detention] according to the rules established by law” during the investigation.
Presidential human rights council chairman Valery Fadeyev also said the rules of detention “must be strictly observed” while criticizing the Quran-burning.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists last month that he would not answer questions about the video, explaining his decision by merely saying “I don't want to.”
Senior Chechen officials and lawmakers meanwhile lavished praise on Kadyrov's son following initial reports about the beating of Zhuravel, who they described as “subhuman.”
Kadyrov himself said his son "did the right thing."
"I'm proud of Adam's ... adult ideals of honor and dignity in defense of his religion,” the Chechen strongman added.
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