Rights defenders treat Tataev's video appeal as forced

Akraman Tataev, a resident of the city of Argun, filmed his video, in which he refuted the information about his kidnapping and torture, under law enforcers' pressure, as he fears for his life, human rights defenders have suggested.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Marem Salamova, Akraman Tataev's mother, turned to the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial"* with a request to help "to save her son." She stated that on April 23, Tataev was kidnapped by law enforcers and ill-treated.

In June, two Tataev's video appeals were posted, in which he claims that he had returned home and that law enforcers had made him no harm. He treated the information about his kidnapping as a lie, insulting by this the bloggers who had spread information about him.

Such appeals are recorded for fear of even greater problems on the part of law enforcers, says Svetlana Gannushkina, the chair of the "Civil Assistance"* Committee. She has compared the appearance of videos refuting the facts of kidnapping and torture to the practice of rejecting advocates.

In April 2021, Magomed Gadaev, deported from France, asked for state protection because of a threat to his life; and when law enforcers took him to Chechnya, he rejected his advocates. A video appeared on the Instagram, in which Gadaev claimed that he had not been tortured. Social network users treated the video as a staged one.

Ruslan Kutaev, President of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations, believes that Tataev was subjected to pressure, including through his relatives and with a threat of continued torture.