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The Vienna State Criminal Police Office is currently investigating the self-proclaimed “moral guards” of the Austro-Chechen community. As KURIER reported, the organization is said to have organized hierarchically and communicated in secret chat groups. The men are said to have observed women with a Chechen migrant background on the internet and on the street since the beginning of the year and judged them according to Islamist-conservative criteria.
If the women did not act in the men’s way, they should not only have been visited and “instructed.” It is also said that the men posted photos of the women and some of them were posted in front of the prayer rooms. In some cases, the women were also persecuted and physically abused, police reported. A photo in a bathing suit or a relationship with a non-Chechen person was enough. The case began rolling after a victim addressed the police.
Four people arrested
According to the Police, the organization mainly acted in chat groups on various platforms, where the allegedly “immoral” behavior of women was observed and recorded. “Intentionally closed chat groups were also used to make possible investigations more difficult,” police said.
Meanwhile, eleven people known by name, including a woman, are listed as suspects in the investigation. They all have Russian citizenship. Four of them are currently in custody. They were charged with “establishing a criminal organization” as well as “criminal conspiracy” and coercion.
“Based on the data seen and the knowledge gained so far, it is likely that there are a large number of unreported cases of other unknown perpetrators who had worked in various forms of the criminal structure,” the police report.
Ten women are currently known by name on the victim’s side. “The number of victims could well be in the triple digit range,” estimates the police.
Large amounts of data secured
In the course of the house searches, according to the police, considerable amounts (around 60 gigabytes) of data material in the form of chat logs, photographs and videos were seized. The review and evaluation of these data took several weeks. For example, agents found a database on a laptop where the online activities of hundreds of young women were meticulously collected. It is not yet clear which of these women actually became victims of the criminal group. But no further victims were reported to the police.
Arms trafficking investigation
Videos of unknown people who were physically abused were also saved. It was also possible to identify signs of new criminal acts. Suspicions run in the direction of arms trafficking, imprisonment, aggravated assault and vehicle theft. In these cases, the unknown perpetrators are still being investigated.
“These are new investigations, for which a new law is created,” says police spokesman Eidenberger. It is not yet known if the cases are related and where these videos were even recorded. The investigation would also be particularly difficult if all the suspects used numerous aliases.
“It’s gang more about money”
For Eidenberger it is clear that people not only live by their own rules, which contradict the rule of law, but also “interpret Islam much more strictly” than usual.
Consequently, the incidents in the Austro-Chechen community are condemned: “Such crimes have nothing to do with a national mentality,” says Khuseyn Ishkanov, a politician in exile who fled to Austria and president of the Ichkeria cultural association.
In Chechnya it is frowned upon to interfere in the affairs of other families. Ishkanov believes the gang was more interested in money than conservative values. The alleged theft and arms trade would indicate this. In any case, he hopes that the law will now come into full force.
