18:52, 10 January 2022

Video with Tumso's relatives continues trend of rebukes to rights defenders

A video appeal by relatives of Tumso Abdurakhmanov. Screenshot of the video on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CYeU4rhgwlC/

A video has been posted on the Instagram with an appeal by relatives of the oppositional blogger, Tumso Abdurakhmanov, in which they stigmatize human rights defenders and assure that they are not being repressed. This video was the third one after similar appeals made by relatives of Khasan Khalitov and Akhmed Zakaev.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 22-24, Tumso Abdurakhmanov, Minkail Malizaev and Khasan Khalitov reported about kidnappings of their relatives living in Chechnya; it was also announced about kidnappings of relatives of Mansur Sadulaev, the founder of the "Vayfond" Association, and Aslan Artsuev, the director of the "Ichkeria" Human Rights Centre. On January 7, Akhmed Dudaev, the Chechen Minister for Press and Information, refuted the kidnappings of relatives of critics of Chechen authorities.

The video appeals by Abdurakhmanov's relatives allegedly refute the information about their kidnappings.

One of the five men-figurants of the video said how good life is in Chechnya, and complained about the excessive attention from human rights defenders.

Another man called himself "a brother of Tumso's mother" and said that the problem is in Abdurakhmanov himself, who "wouldn't calm down."

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 10, 2022 at 02:08 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.