According to a publication by Kavkaz-Uzel, four young, female residents of the Sunzha district of Chechnya have joined a group of Chechen freedom fighters.

“Sometime ago, four girls from the Assinovskaya village of the Sunzha district left their homes. Now it turns out that they have joined the freedom fighters. Naturally, the parents of the girls do not know anything about this issue. However, now they have very serious problems with bandits from the puppet regime. Kadyrovits threaten the families with harm and demand that they find their daughters and convince them to return from the mountains,” said a Chechen human rights activist.

The human rights defender believes that it is an impossible task for the parents of these girls, because the bases of the freedom fighters in this region are in different areas, ranging from Sunzha to Itum-Kala. They are located in inaccessible mountainous and wooded areas as well as being well hidden. In addition, the area is infested by landmines which were placed by Russian forces. All of these factors make it impossible for the parents to search out and find their daughters.

The rights defender noted that each girl made the choice to join the fighters and their parents must not be held accountable. The cruel pressure being applied by the puppet forces against the families is a basic human rights violation.

*Text was translated by Waynakh Online and edited by Michael Capobianco