WOAT anxious about life of hacker Saaev who threatened Kadyrov

The International Secretariat of the World Organization Against Torture (WOAT) has addressed Russian leadership with a request to interfere with the situation with Albert Saaev, who was convicted in Moscow for hacking the official websites of Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia, and was taken away to Grozny.

Let us remind you that hacker Albert Saaev, who was brought to Chechnya last week after he was sentenced by the Moscow court to two years in high security colony under the articles of "illegal access to computer information" and "creation, use and dissemination of nocuous software" after he broke the governmental sites of Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetia, made apologies to Ramzan Kadyrov and then disappeared. His fate seriously worried human rights activists. Ramzan Kadyrov named the hacker a "cyber-mujahad" and accused his of insult his honour and dignity.

On April 20, the spokesman of the Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office (ICPO) of Chechnya said that Saaev was in SIZO (pre-trial prison) in Grozny and would soon face another charge. Members of Chechen NGOs believe that Albert Saaev's transfer to the official Grozny for conducting certain "investigatory actions" is illegal and senseless from the legal point of view. On April 22, Viserhadji Ibragimov, Saaev's advocate, said that client had been brought to Grozny as a witness, he is in normal conditions, and no violence was applied to him.

The WOAT sent its appeals to the leaders of Russia and Chechen Republic, heads of power ministries and state human rights defenders - Ella Pamfilova, chair of the Russian Presidential Commission on Human Rights, and Russian Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin - and to the Russia's Permanent Mission at the UN in Geneva.

The appeal states that the International Secretariat of the WOAT received information about the transfer of Albert Saaev who had been kept in custody in Moscow to Grozny from members of the Society of Russian-Chechen Friendship. According to this organization, Saaev is now kept in a single cell. The WOAT expresses fear that he can be tortured and cruelly treated.

Human rights activist note that Saaev, who had cracked the official web-portal of the President of the Chechen Republic - www.chechnyaTODAY.com - was sentenced to two years of imprisonment and a fine of 35,000 roubles and was to serve his term in SIZO Lefortovo in Moscow.

The WOAT also demands his immediate return to Moscow for serving his punishment there.

Human rights defender Oksana Chelysheva has explained the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the very facts of above appeal and international publicity of Saaev's case may somehow secure and safeguard the convict and his family from possible torture.

In the meantime, unofficial information appeared that the hacker was brought to Chechnya with the aim to persuade him to cooperate as a "computer expert" with those bodies whose websites he had earlier cracked.

The Chechen MIA gave no comments on the issue to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. A source from there only confirmed that Saaev was really kept in the SIZO.

The version about Saaev's possible future involvement in cooperation is shared by the former owner of the Chechen forum adamalla.com, which had to stop its work because of numerous DDoS-attacks. He believes that the authorities of the region use such computer experts to fight against unwanted resources.