"Gulagu.net" founder complains about threats from Chechen natives

Vladimir Osechkin, the founder of the "Gulagu.net" portal, who lives in France, has reported about the received threats after his publications about Chechen crime bosses and links of the Chechen leadership with criminal circles.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that one day before the court's decision to arrest him in absentia, Osechkin published information about a team of killers that had arrived in Moscow from Grozny "to neutralize the remnants of the opposition." Osechkin has linked his criminal prosecution with special services' attempts to take control over his human rights project.

According to Osechkin, he began receiving threats after his publications about Chechen crime bosses, who, according to his information, were used to crack down on other prisoners in jails. One of them was also mentioned by Osechkin in a publication about killers from Grozny. This post was broadly spread on the Facebook with over a thousand shares; it was posted in a number of communities of political nature.

Osechkin himself expects that "France will comply with its international obligations," and the refugee status excludes any possibility of his extradition to Russia. At the same time, he has added that he fears extrajudicial executions.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 20, 2020 at 09:05 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.