Pressure on Kadyrov's critics through kidnapping their relatives found failed

Kidnappings of his relatives will not affect the position of the blogger, Tumso Abdurakhmanov, and other critics of Chechen authorities; the campaign aimed to intimidate oppositionists by kidnapping their relatives turned out to be a failure, the human rights defenders interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" believe.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 22-24, 2021, Kadyrov's critics Tumso Abdurakhmanov, Minkail Malizaev and Khasan Khalitov reported about the kidnapping of their relatives living in Chechnya, as well as of relatives of Mansur Sadulaev, the founder of the "Vayfond" Association, and of Aslan Artsuev, the director of the "Ichkeria" Human Rights Centre. On December 25, 2021, 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.

Chechen authorities won't be able intimidate critics of Kadyrov's regime, especially Tumso Abdurakhmanov, says Svetlana Gannushkina, the chair of the "Civic Assistance" Committee*.

In her opinion, the release of the kidnapped oppositionists' relatives was the result of the international outcry and indignation at the actions of the Kadyrov's clique. "This has had an impact even on these 'comrades' who are acting with such dubious and wild methods," Ms Gannushkina has added, believing that "the campaign has turned out to be a failure of Chechen authorities."

The commitment of the activists whose relatives had been kidnapped indicates that they are ready to "go all the way," said Ruslan Kutaev, the president of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations. "They will continue opposing Kadyrov even if their relatives are killed. By kidnapping relatives, Chechen authorities failed to achieve their goal – to silence activists down. Among other things, the protest of the population of Chechnya is growing," Mr Kutaev told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

*The organization has been put by the Russian Ministry of Justice on the register of non-commercial 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 January 19, 2022 at 08:57 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.