Petra Bayr, the head of Europe’s leading human rights body said that Ruslan Kutayev has been suspended from his post following comments he made about LGBTQ+ people and so‑called “honor killings” in the North Caucasus.
Kutayev is one of five representatives of Russia’s Indigenous peoples and national minorities serving on the Platform for Dialogue with Russian Democratic Forces, a 15‑member advisory body created under the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), The Moscow Times reported.
The suspension, published on Wednesday, followed an interview Kutayev gave last week to exiled Russian journalist Alexander Plyushchev, in which he described himself as a conservative and said he had never been approached to assist women or LGBTQ+ people fleeing violence in Chechnya.
He added that he had “no desire to look into” such cases.
“I am part of the conservative part of Chechen society,” Kutayev said in the interview. “In our society, this kind of behavior isn’t just seen as sensitive - it’s taken very, very seriously.”
The Chechen community has also previously faced backlash from German counterparts.
Earlier this month, Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party expelled a Chechen-born member amid scrutiny over his ties to pro-Kremlin leadership and a gift featuring Nazi symbolism.
Kutayev proceeded to argue that protecting minority rights should not come at the expense of what he described as the rights of the majority.
“In defending the rights of minorities, the rights of the majority shouldn’t be infringed upon,” he said.
The Council of Europe has not disclosed how long the suspension will remain in place or whether further disciplinary steps are being considered.