23:58, 11 January 2021

Rights defenders succeed in seeking investigation into Chechen Tepsurkaev's kidnapping

Salman Tepsurkaev. Screenshot of the video https://www.instagram.com/p/CFFm8A6Cwtn/

In Kuban, investigators instituted a case on the kidnapping of Salman Tepsurkaev after their Chechen colleagues had thrice refused to start an investigation, the "Committee Against Torture" (CaT) reported.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in October 2020, in Chechnya, investigators refused to open a case on the kidnapping of Salman Tepsurkaev, a moderator of the chat on the 1Adat Telegram Channel. On November 17, it was reported that the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) communicated a complaint filed by human rights defenders in the interests of Salman Tepsurkaev.

The CaT released a video showing Salman Tepsurkaev being taken away from a hotel in Gelendzhik. However, the city police also refused to investigate the incident. According to the human rights defenders, relatives will get a chance to see Salman Tepsurkaev if he is declared involved in a criminal case.

An additional check carried out by the investigators led to the institution of a criminal case under the Article "Kidnapping of a person committed by a group of persons in a preliminary conspiracy."

In Chechnya, a wide public outcry was caused by the video in which naked Salman Tepsurkaev was sitting down on a bottle and explaining that he was doing that as punishment for his cooperation with the 1Adat Telegram Channel, which criticized the Chechen authorities. Since then, Salman Tepsurkaev no longer contacted his family members, and the human rights defenders fear for his fate.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 11, 2021 at 06:27 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.