Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has ordered law enforcement authorities to expel the family of a local man accused of organizing a knife attack on police earlier this week, Russian-language media reported Wednesday.
The alleged assailant was shot and killed after injuring two traffic officers on patrol in the Chechen town of Achkhoy-Martan on Monday evening. Investigators initially said one of the officers died of his injuries, but they later retracted the statement for unknown reasons.
Kadyrov claimed late Tuesday that some of the attacker’s accomplices were based in Turkey, while their “mastermind” was in Ukraine. He did not indicate the source of his information.
The Chechen leader ordered police, National Guard and Federal Security Service (FSB) officials to “expel” the parents and siblings of the alleged assailant from the republic of Chechnya and seize their assets, according to a translation of his Chechen-language speech by the Kavkaz.Realii news website.
Kadyrov also ordered law enforcement authorities to expel alleged accomplices in the knife attack, added Kavkaz.Realii, which serves as the North Caucasus desk of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).
“The parents and immediate relatives of terrorists have a special responsibility,” Kadyrov wrote in a post on Telegram. “Each of them should understand that they will have to answer for the criminal actions of their loved ones if they knew but did nothing, or condoned and especially encouraged the path of violence.”
According to Kavkaz.Realii, Chechen authorities regularly practice collective punishment against the family members of not only criminals but also of those who criticize local officials.
In 2019, after a series of stabbing attacks claimed by the Islamic State took place in the Muslim-majority republic, Kadyrov dismissed the incidents as tactics introduced to Russia by Western “foes.”
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