They were accused of collaborating with terrorists. Four more were later killed.
"Novaâ Gazeta" released an investigation into the extrajudicial execution of 27 people on the night of 26 to 27 January 2017.
The background is as follows: on 17 December 2016, several men attacked police officers in Grozny. In the Chechen capital, militants were killed, several special operations were carried out and at least 100 people were detained. According to the investigation, they were linked to terrorists.
The operations were carried out on the orders of the head of the republic, Ramzan Kadyrov.
According to the newspaper, the execution of 27 people took place in the basement of the barracks of patrol and inspection service regiment named after Akhmat Kadyrov: two were shot dead and the others were strangled. Before doing so, the security forces forced some of the detainees to swear allegiance to the terrorists on camera and publicly renounce them.
Novaâ Gazeta wrote about the 27 people killed in late January in July 2017. In addition, according to the newspaper, four more people were killed in the republic - the reason was their non-traditional sexual orientation.
A little earlier, in April, the newspaper handed over to the Investigative Committee all the available data on 31 people - an inquest began. It lasted almost a year and ended inconclusively: investigators confirmed the deaths of four people, some were put on the wanted list, and charges were filed against 18 people for belonging to terrorist groups in Syria.
Tatyana Moskalkova, Russia's Commissioner for Human Rights, took an interest in the situation.
Photo: Reuters