MOSCOW: Attackers set alight the office of a prominent rights group in Chechnya after its activists criticized Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov for saying that relatives of insurgents would be punished.

The office of the Joint Mobile Group, one of the few human rights groups active in Chechnya, was set on fire late Saturday, its leader Igor Kalyapin wrote on Facebook.

“The office of the Joint Mobile Group is on fire in Grozny. None of the staff were injured,” Kalyapin said.

Kalyapin said that earlier in the evening two men had tried to break into the office and that activists had been followed by armed men.

The apparent arson attack targeted rights activists who have taken a stand against Kadyrov, the North Caucasus region’s ardently pro-Putin leader, after his chilling statement that relatives of insurgents will be punished for their crimes. Chechnya saw a fresh outburst of violence this month as insurgents attacked Grozny on Dec. 4, storming buildings including a school before 11 were killed in a massive security operation in which 14 police died.

Kadyrov responded by saying that relatives of insurgents involved in a bloody attack on Grozny this month would be banished and their homes destroyed.

After Kadyrov’s statement on his popular Instagram account, at least eight houses belonging to people with family links to insurgents were burnt down, according to a statement by Memorial rights group this week.

Kalyapin had appealed to the Russian prosecutor-general to investigate Kadyrov’s statement.