The Chechen Situation in France

Translation by Fousesquawk.


This weekend, about 200 Chechens showed up in Dijon, France and wreaked havoc in the city after one of their community was beaten by North African drug dealers.

Below is an article today appearing in Le Figaro, which describes the criminal activities rampant with France's Chechen community. (The largest concentration of Chechens in France is located in Nice.)

https://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/une-note-confidentielle-s-inquiete-de-la-progression-du-crime-organise-tchetchene-en-france-20200617

A troubling confidential report on the progression of Chechen organized crime in France

Chechen criminal networks have been investing for several years  in "a large range of crimes", according to Judicial Police.

By Pierre Sautreuil, Published 10 hours ago, update 7 hours ago

The shows of force by criminal groups of Chechens "are more and more frequent (in France) and are involving into violence without precedent," warns a confidential report from the Central Direction of the Judicial Police (DCPD) dated Tuesday, June 16, and of which Le Parisien published extracts on Wednesday. These observations were expressed after dozens of Chechens launched a punitive expedition Friday, June 12 in the center of Dijon. This (invasion) kicked off a weekend of violent tensions between this community of Caucasus origin and residents of the quarter of Grésilles.

"These past years, the confrontations between the Chechens and other communities, principally of Maghrebian (N African) origin, have grown," this report from Sirasco (the service of criminal information of the Judicial Police), sums up. " These conflicts often come up in the area of honor or result  from clandestine stakes against a backdrop of a grey economy." If the confrontations  that broke out this weekend in Dijon pertain more to the first category, Le Parisien (states), a source close to the supporting file (says), that the majority of the participants , on the Chechen side, are "members of criminal organizations."

For several years, say the PJ analysts, "the criminal Chechen networks have invested in a large range of crimes". In several regions, such as Alsace and the south of France, the members of the Chechen networks  have notably imposed themselves as security agents during the night, controlled principally by traditional banditry. In this domain of activity, they have progressively managed to oust the competition by force (aggravated violence, extortion) and develop their own activities." 

In Île-de-France, the report furnishes the example of the ZUP (sensitive urban zone) Surville, of Montereau-Fault-Yonne, in Seine and Marne, where the Chechens have managed to implant themselves and impose themselves by force, threats, and intimidation upon the residents and local traffickers."

This progression in recent years has drawn the attention of the French intelligence services, who particularly worry about the intertwining of Chechen banditry with elements, "known for their belonging to the independent Chechen movement or their religious fundamentalism". According to Le Parisien, about 300 Chechens are believed today to be listed in files for the prevention of terrorist radicalization (FSPRT), "an over-representation."