Chechen ruler Ramzan Kadyrov is against collective punishment, from now on

Ramzan Kadyrov, the ruler of Chechnya, announced late on Thursday that his office has nearly secured the return of 94 children from Iraq whose mothers have been imprisoned on charges of terrorism. “Their mothers stumbled, going down the wrong path, and have been sentenced to many years in prison or life, but children aren’t responsible for the actions of their parents,” said Kadyrov, whose security forces in Chechnya regularly mete out collective punishment against families when even one relative is suspected of aiding armed insurgents.

There will reportedly be 49 children returning in the first wave. Kadyrov says the paperwork for 25 of these minors has already been completed. The process for returning the other 45 individuals is “very complicated,” Kadyrov warned, but he promises to do everything possible to bring them home.

In late May, Kadyrov announced that a “mass collection of DNA material” would be conducted in Chechnya to establish the parentage and citizenship of children born in the Middle East whose mothers have been arrested there. Since last fall, Kadyrov has organized the repatriation of more than 100 women and children detained in Syria and Iraq. These women reportedly returned to Russia after promising to appear in court, if prosecutors decided to bring any criminal charges related to their activities abroad, and at least one woman was sentenced to prison after coming home.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, 50 to 70 Russian women are currently imprisoned in Iraq on charges of involvement in ISIS. They are accompanied by more than 100 children. In late April, nineteen of these women were sentenced to life in prison for ties to ISIS.