Punitive raids against Chechen refugees in Azerbaijan

Representatives of Chechen refugees in Azerbaijan reported that in the afternoon on June 5 an armed unit of Azerbaijani police raided a house of Chechen refugees, which they have been renting for a long time, and took away a 60-year-old man, the head of the household, an invalid with the second group of disability, as well as his daughter, his daughter-in-law with her two-year-old child, and their neighbor with her six-year-old child.The detainees were being questioned for 5 hours. Later all of them were released.

 

On the same day in Azerbaijani capital Baku two young Chechens and a spouse of one of them with two children were detained. The fate of the family is still unknown. One of the detainees has been released.

 

Representatives of Chechen refugees in Azerbaijan are extremely outraged and surprised by the wave of punitive raids on the people, during which entire families with small children are being abducted under threat of retaliation.

 

The Council of Refugees has reportedly addressed to the Azerbaijani authorities with the demand to stop the lawlessness and wrote a letter to the country’s president Ilham Aliyev with the request to interfere in the situation and stop the violence against peaceful civilians.

 

Department of Monitoring,

Kavkaz Center