Oppositionists tell about fate of relatives kidnapped in Chechnya

The videos that show relatives of the activists and bloggers who oppose Chechen authorities, only allows judging that they are alive, but doesn't at all mean that they are at large, Oleg Orlov, a human rights defender, has pointed out. Tumso Aburakhmanov, a blogger, has confirmed that in this video one of his relatives is being held hostage.

In December, Kadyrov's critics, Tumso Abdurakhmanov, Minkail Malizaev and Khasan Khalitov, as well as Mansur Sadulaev, the founder of the "Vayfond" Association, and Aslan Artsuev, the director of the "Ichkeria" Human Rights Centre, reported about the kidnapping of their relatives living in Chechnya. On December 25, it became known about the kidnapping of 37 relatives of Abubakar Yangulbaev, a lawyer of the "Committee against Torture" (CaT); later some of them were released.

"The information that since December 22, more than 60 relatives of the opposition bloggers and human rights defenders living outside Russia have been kidnapped is still relevant," said Oleg Orlov, a board member of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

Abubakar Yangulbaev said that most of his relatives are already at large.

"Now only four people are being held – my mother's paternal uncles," he said.

Mansur Sadulaev has no information yet about the fate of his kidnapped relatives.

Earlier, Mansur Soltaev, the Chechen Ombudsperson, treated the reports about kidnappings in Chechnya as a lie.