Blackmail of blogger Khalitov emphasizes coordination of campaign against critics of Chechen authorities

Threats and blackmail were an attempt to force blogger Khasan Khalitov to stop criticizing the Chechen authorities, since the goal was not achieved through the kidnapping of his relatives, human rights defenders explained. They suggested that officials from the Chechen authorities were involved in the kidnappings and blackmail of the Ramzan Kadyrov’s opponents.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that blogger Khasan Khalitov, who lives in Turkey, received a photo of a naked sister who was kidnapped in Chechnya together with her husband in December. A person who sent the photos threatened to make them public if the blogger did not stop criticizing the authorities of Chechnya. According to Khasan Khalitov, the phone number from which the threats came belonged to a member of the Chechen parliament.

Oleg Orlov, the head of the “Hot Spots” programme of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) “Memorial”*, believes that the kidnappings of relatives of Chechen bloggers and oppositionists abroad are a coordinated campaign.

According to Oleg Orlov, pressure on opponents through their relatives has been practiced in Chechnya for a long time, but in recent years “that has stopped working.” “Tumso Abdurakhmanov was repeatedly threatened through his relatives, but he did not stop his activities,” Oleg Orlov said.

The human rights defender associated a series of murders and attempted murders of Chechen natives in Europe with the failure of other methods of pressure.

The actions of the person who uses blackmail against Khasan Khalitov contradict Chechen traditions, according to which a woman can be offended by the very accusation of such kind, Svetlana Gannushkina, the chair of the “Civic Assistance” Committee*, suggests. The human rights defender believes that kidnappings and pressure are carried out by persons close to power in Chechnya.

*The organization has been put by the Russian Ministry of Justice on the register of NCOs performing the functions of a foreign agent.