Norway: picketers urge authorities to react to wave of kidnappings in Chechnya

On December 30, about 50 members of the Chechen Diaspora held a protest in Oslo, calling on the authorities to seek sanctions against Ramzan Kadyrov and Vladimir Putin in connection with kidnappings in Chechnya and liquidation of the "Memorials"*.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 22-24, critics of Chechen authorities, Tumso Abdurakhmanov, Minkail Malizaev and Khasan Khalitov, reported about kidnappings of their relatives living in Chechnya; it was also reported about kidnappings of relatives of Mansur Sadulaev, the founder of the "Vayfond" Association, and Aslan Artsuev, the director of the human rights organization "Human Rights Centre Ichkeria". On December 25, it became known about the kidnapping of 37 relatives of Abubakar Yangulbaev, a lawyer of the "Committee against Torture" (CaT); some of them were released later. Ramzan Kadyrov has expressed a version that "someone from those who were insulted by the bloggers was in charge of the kidnappings."

In Oslo, a protest action was held in front of the Norwegian Parliament, in which about 50 people from the Chechen Diaspora took part, the DOSH magazine has reported.

The picketers expressed their protest against mass kidnappings in Chechnya of relatives of those who criticize the republic's leadership. Besides, the action of Chechen natives was a reaction to the decisions to liquidate the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial"* and the "International Memorial".

In December 2021, kidnappings of relatives of Chechen activists became possible due to Kadyrov's confidence that these actions would remain unpunished for him, human rights defenders have stated.