Urgent appeal regarding the relatives of Chechen bloggers and public figures detained in the Chechen Republic.

Assembly of Chechens of Europe

Thursday, 23/12/2021

Since yesterday, we have been receiving information that in the Chechen Republic relatives of several Chechen bloggers and public figures living in Europe have been abducted and are being held in unknown places. There are also women among the detainees.

We urge everyone who can influence this situation from among officials, journalists, human rights defenders and the public in general to pay attention to this situation and do everything possible so that the abducted people return to their families in health and well-being. Regardless of our position in relation to the activities or words of bloggers and public figures in question, we categorically express our protest against the violation of the rights of their close and distant relatives who live in our homeland.
The human rights situation in the Russian Federation is already extremely deplorable. Recently, hundreds of gigabytes of video evidence of torture in Russian prisons were published. All international media are shocked by what these monsters in uniform are doing. People from the Caucasus and, in particular, from the Chechen Republic suffer especially.

We insist that it is time to end the bullying of our people. The tragic consequences of the two aggressions against the Chechen people in 1994 and 1999 have not yet healed, but crimes are committed in the Russian Federation every day in order to remind our people of the horror of wars and genocide.

Come to your senses and release the detainees who cannot be guilty and are in no way responsible for the words or activities of their relatives living in Europe.

We call on all international institutions, in particular the Council of Europe, the European Court of Human Rights, the UN Human Rights Council, well-known human rights organizations and mainstream media, to urgently call on the representatives of the Russian authorities to respect human rights and demand from them the immediate release of men and women detained in the Chechen Republic.

Below is a list of those detained according to our information at the moment:

1. Relatives of Tumso Abdurakhmanov currently living in Sweden:

Abdurakhmanov Movldy — great uncle;
Abdurakhmanov Musa — great uncle;
Abdurakhmanov Movsar — great uncle;
Abdurakhmanov Mokhmad — second cousin;
Hasarov Salambek — uncle (mother’s brother);
Hasarov Muslim — uncle (mother’s brother);
Abdurakhmanova Takhmina — cousin;
Deni Abdurakhmanov — cousin-nephew;
Tsukaev Mokhmad — maternal cousin;

2. Cousins of Mansur Sadulaev, founder of the human rights association «Vayfond», Austria :

Hasanov Hasan Abdutalipovich;
Hasanov Khusein Abdutalipovich;
Khasiev Ibragim Yusupovich;

3. Relatives of the blogger Mikail Malizayev, who lives in Germany, the names of the relatives have not been specified.
4. Relatives of Khassan Khalitov currently living in Turkey: threats against them have been reported for several months.