Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov really dislikes human rights (workers)

Ramzan Kadyrov doesn’t like human rights workers, and he’s not afraid to say it. “They’re people without kith or kin, without a nation, and without religion,” the Chechen leader told state television, adding, “Their work won’t fly in our republic.” 

Kadyrov also called jailed human rights leader Oyub Titiyev a “drug addict” and condemned international organizations for rushing to his defense. Titiyev, who heads the Chechen office of the group “Memorial,” was arrested in Chechnya on January 9 for marijuana possession and now faces 10 years in prison. He says the drugs were planted in his car.

On January 18, police came to Memorial’s office in Grozny and ordered the landlady to open the door. Two days earlier, the same woman reportedly told Memorial’s national director that Chechen police had confronted her previously and demanded to know why she rents to the human rights group, telling her that she’d made a mistake by signing a lease agreement with Memorial.