23:57, 7 April 2021

HRC “Memorial”* recognizes Salman Tepsurkaev as a political prisoner

Salman Tepsurkaev. Screenshot of the video by "Current Time" https://www.currenttime.tv/a/what-happened-to-salman-tepsurkaev/30921472.html

Salman Tepsurkaev, a moderator of the opposition 1Adat Telegram Channel, fell victim to a campaign to persecute dissidents in Chechnya and he is a political prisoner, announces the Human Rights Centre (HRC) “Memorial”*.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in September 2020, a wide public outcry in Chechnya and beyond its borders was provoked by a 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, known for its criticism of the Chechen authorities. Then Salman Tepsurkaev stopped contacting his relatives. They believe that after being kidnapped in the Krasnodar Territory, he was brought to a law enforcement body in Grozny. The kidnapping of Salman Tepsurkaev was mentioned in the report prepared by the US Department of State on human rights violations in Russia.

The HRC “Memorial”*also believes that Salman Tepsurkaev was forcibly detained in Chechnya and subjected to torture and degrading treatment.

The human rights defenders believe that Salman Tepsurkaev is still being kept in custody by Chechen law enforcers.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) accepted a complaint in the Salman Tepsurkaev’s case very quickly, by November 17, 2020. The Russian government called the complaint unfounded.

The human rights defenders announced that they had submitted to the ECtHR the evidence of the Chechen law enforcers’ involvement in the kidnapping of Salman Tepsurkaev. “We have photos of them, of their cars, and we have videos,” noted Olga Sadovskaya, the head of the international legal protection department of the “Committee against Torture” (CaT).

* The organization is included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in the “Register of non-profit organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent”.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on April 7, 2021 at 06:03 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.