‘Enemies of the people’ should be submitted to mental treatment, Ramzan Kadyrov said.
A bit later he specified that he was not referring to Russia’s ‘legal opposition’ which raises social and economic issues. He meant those who ‘slanders Russia and throws mud to it ‘.
“They threaten Russia, travel to the United States, European sanctions, tell them what sanctions should be imposed to undermine Russia’s economy, security, stability,” he said on Instagram.
The Chechen leader also suggested that ‘people who take doles from the West’ are mentally ill and expressed willingness to provide good hospital rooms and experienced doctors to ‘those who is doing damage to Russia’.
Ramzan Kadyrov’s proposals to regard the non-system opposition as ‘enemies of the people’ and punish ‘to the fullest extent of law for their subversive activities’ drew the fire of a number of Russian politicians and human rights activists.
On Monday Maxim Reznik, a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, asked to check the statement for the signs of extremism.
Human rights activists accuse Ramzan Kadyrov of systematic human rights violations, in particular, in murders, torture and kidnappings. ‘Kadyrovites’, former militants who joined the police in Chechnya, are said to be perpetrators of these crimes. Some critics have stated that Kadyrov participated in torture and murder himself. The Chechen leader denies the allegations and says human rights defenders serve the interests of foreign sponsors.
It is rumoured that Ramzan Kadyrov might have been involved in the murder of the Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov.
