The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has suspended the participation of Chechen activist Ruslan Kutaev in its Russian democratic forces platform, citing ‘complaints’ regarding his compliance with the platform’s criteria. Earlier, activists demanded his removal from the platform over comments in support of ‘honour killings’.
PACE’s President Petra Bayr announced Kutaev’s suspension due to non-compliance on Wednesday evening.
In her statement, Bayr said that she ‘examined the evidence attached to these complaints’ and that she considered them ‘substantiated’.
His suspension now awaits a final decision by PACE’s bureau.
While Bayr has not specified which criteria Kutaev has been found in violation of, she cited Resolution 2621 concerning the platform’s creation. The criteria stipulates that members must not have ‘advocated non-democratic policies’ in Russia.
NC SOS Crisis Group, a rights group helping queer people and women from the North Caucasus flee persecution and domestic abuse, had called for his removal from the platform for statements he had made regarding queer people and ‘honour killings’.
In an interview with YouTube channel The Breakfast Show on 25 April, Kutaev spoke about the concept of honour and said that Chechen society was trying to preserve itself by defending itself both from outside pressure and from ‘internal outcasts’ and ‘perverts’.
‘If people, due to certain reasons or physiology, behave and present themselves in some way, do your own business quietly, do not put us on display, understanding that it offends us. I do not know who is engaged in protecting these people. No one has approached me. And I cannot say anything here’, Kutaev said.
Responding to a question about so-called ‘honour killings’, Kutaev said that decisions about a person’s fate — ‘to kill, return home, or marry off’ — are taken by the family, and no one has the right to condemn them for this.
Elizaveta Chukharova
