First article:
A human rights group says a well-known Chechen blogger has been assaulted in his apartment in a European country where he lives in hiding, the latest attack in Europe on critics of the leadership in Russia's North Caucasus region.
Tumso Abdurakhmanov was resting in a hospital on February 27 following the attack, according to the Swedish-based Vayfond Charity and Human Rights Association -- a nongovernmental organization that says it aims to protect the rights of Chechens and to seek justice for Chechens and other ethnic groups in Russia's North Caucasus region who are persecuted for "religious and political reasons."
According to Vayfond, the assailant broke into Abdurakhmanov's apartment the afternoon of February 26 while he was sleeping and assaulted him with a hammer. Abdurakhmanov eventually managed to overpower the attacker and called the police.
Abdurakhmanov, who had to flee Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya several years ago fearing for his safety after becoming known for his criticism of the Kremlin-backed authorities in his native region, posted a video on YouTube where the attacker admits he is from Moscow and says that he was asked by a person named Abdurakhman in the Chechen capital, Grozny, "to scare" Abdurakhmanov.
"Who sent you? Where have you come from?" Abdurakhmanov asks in the video, which was taken down by YouTube several hours after it was posted.
Abdurakhmanov then shows a hammer that he says was used by the man in the attack.
As the injured man lay on the ground, he says in the grainy video that he came from Moscow and that "they have my mother."
Rights groups say Kremlin-backed Ramzan Kadyrov, who has ruled the volatile region since 2007, uses repressive measures and has created a climate of impunity for security forces in the region. They claim Kadyrov is ultimately responsible for the violence and intimidation of political opponents by Chechen authorities, including kidnappings, forced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings.
Since fleeing Chechnya in 2015, the 32-year-old Abdurakhmanov has been unsuccessful in his attempts to be granted asylum in Europe.
He has twice filed for asylum in Poland and has been turned down once already, despite strong support from human rights activists such as Amnesty International, which has warned he is "at a very real risk of torture and other inhuman or degrading treatment" if returned to Russia.
Still, Abdurakhmanov has continued to criticize the Kadyrov regime, focusing on human rights violations and corruption in Chechnya, a predominantly Muslim region in Russia's North Caucasus. His YouTube channel has more than 140,000 subscribers.
Vayfond did not say where Abdurakhmanov was currently living, or where the attack occurred.
The Moscow-based Memorial Human Rights Center noted in a statement on February 27 that critics of Kadyrov were increasingly coming under attack.
"Numerous killings and attempted killings in Moscow, Russia's other regions, Turkey, Ukraine, and in the countries of Western and Central Europe, have been conducted by killers sent from Chechnya...Ramzan Kadyrov, under the Kremlin's passive eye, has publicly called on cracking down on critics of the Chechen authorities 'by killing, placing behind bars, and doing anything you want,'" the statement said.
According to Memorial, the chairman of the Chechen parliament and Kadyrov's close associate, Magomed Daudov, in March 2019 declared a blood feud with Abdurakhmanov, after which Chechen authorities allegedly tried to find killers among the Chechen diaspora in Europe to carry out attacks against critics of the regime.
"Now an attempt to kill was carried out, but fortunately it failed. We hope that the authorities of the country where it took place will be capable of investigating this crime and establishing who is behind it, although it is obvious anyway," the statement says.
Earlier in February, Abdurakhmanov was one of the sources giving detailed information about the killing of another exiled blogger from Chechnya, Imran Aliyev, in France.
In August last year, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a Georgian citizen of Chechen origin, was shot dead in broad daylight in central Berlin. Khangoshvili had fought in the second Chechen war against Russian forces in the early 2000s.
The investigative journalism group Bellingcat said earlier this month that a probe into Khangoshvili's killing showed that the attack was planned and organized by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).
The case has sparked a political dispute between Berlin and Moscow -- including tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats -- after Germany noted evidence suggested either the Russian government or authorities in Chechnya likely ordered the killing. Moscow denies the allegations.
A suspect who'd traveled to Germany on a Russian passport issued in the name of Vadim Sokolov was detained by police in Berlin shortly after the killing.
He is now on trial in a German court on charges of murder and weapons violations. In December, Bellingcat identified him as Vadim Krasikov -- a man also suspected in the 2013 killing in Moscow of a Russian businessman.
==========
Second article.
Imran Aliev, a Chechen blogger, was found dead last week. Screenshot/YouTube/BOT TAK
French police believe that the killing of a blogger from the disputed Russian region of Chechnya in a French hotel room last week was "politically motivated," a French police official briefed on the case said.
The official said the police were now hunting for the blogger's traveling companion, who disappeared shortly after the killing.
French investigators wish to speak with the Chechen man who accompanied the blogger, Imran Aliev, 44, from his home in Belgium to northern France via train on January 29, the official said.
Aliev, who vocally opposed the Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin, was found dead the next morning by hotel staff.
His throat had been slit.
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov during his swearing-in in 2007. Dima Korotayev/Epsilon/Getty Images
Aliev was from Chechnya, the southwestern Russia region that has seen two brutal wars for independence from Russia in recent decades. The region is controlled by Kadyrov, with approval from Moscow.
Aliev had left Belgium, "where he was under police protection because of threats out of Russia and Chechnya over his opposition blogging," said the senior French police official, who could not be identified in the media because they were discussing an open investigation.
"He was accompanied by another Chechen, who we have tentatively identified based on his travel documents," the official said.
"This identification could be a case of mistaken identity or even an illegal alibi," the official said, adding that the police could not determine anything "until we have spoken with this man we believe is an important witness."
The official refused to identify the man or confirm whether his location had been determined.
European intelligence and law-enforcement officials remain extremely concerned about assassinations of anti-Putin and Kadyrov dissidents throughout the European Union and the UK. At least 15 people have been killed by Russian hit squads in the UK, including innocent bystanders.
These concerns have become more acute since the attempted assassination in 2018 of Sergei and Yulia Skripal with a nerve agent in Salisbury, England, as well as the daylight assassination of a Chechen dissident in a crowded Berlin park last year.
Lille, France, where Aliev was found dead. Getty Images/PocholoCalapre
The suspects in both cases have been linked to Russian intelligence services, as well as an attempted 2016 coup in Montenegro and the attempted assassination of a Bulgarian arms dealer, through photo identification and public access to various Russian government databases.
"Obviously, considering Aliev's history and previous threats, we need to strong examine the possibility of a state intelligence service in this murder, and we are collecting and analyzing evidence from travel patterns, electronic intercepts, and other investigative tools at our disposal," the French police official said.
The official said France had not yet contacted Russia for any assistance in the case.
A Belgian law-enforcement official familiar with the case refused to go on the record but suggested that Belgian authorities found the entire situation very suspicious.
Russian President Vladimir Putin. Associated Press
"We had him under police protection for a reason," said the official.
The official said there were "'specific and credible threats' on his life from certain political sectors in Chechnya and Russia, which we could easily verify and concluded that protection was deserved."
The official refused to discuss the identity or movements of the man being sought by France or confirm whether he had also been under Belgian protection.
Asked whether Aliev had notified Belgian authorities of his plan to cross the border into France or of any security coordination with France, the Belgian official refused to comment directly.
"I cannot speak directly to whether anyone knew he planned to travel, but I would suggest that arranging protection for someone just a few kilometers over the border would not have been an issue," the official said.
====================
I'm sure @Judge Holden is going to have a field day with this. Ramzan Kadyrov needs to be overthrown, if not by his own people, then by Russia itself.
A human rights group says a well-known Chechen blogger has been assaulted in his apartment in a European country where he lives in hiding, the latest attack in Europe on critics of the leadership in Russia's North Caucasus region.
Tumso Abdurakhmanov was resting in a hospital on February 27 following the attack, according to the Swedish-based Vayfond Charity and Human Rights Association -- a nongovernmental organization that says it aims to protect the rights of Chechens and to seek justice for Chechens and other ethnic groups in Russia's North Caucasus region who are persecuted for "religious and political reasons."
According to Vayfond, the assailant broke into Abdurakhmanov's apartment the afternoon of February 26 while he was sleeping and assaulted him with a hammer. Abdurakhmanov eventually managed to overpower the attacker and called the police.
Abdurakhmanov, who had to flee Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya several years ago fearing for his safety after becoming known for his criticism of the Kremlin-backed authorities in his native region, posted a video on YouTube where the attacker admits he is from Moscow and says that he was asked by a person named Abdurakhman in the Chechen capital, Grozny, "to scare" Abdurakhmanov.
"Who sent you? Where have you come from?" Abdurakhmanov asks in the video, which was taken down by YouTube several hours after it was posted.
Abdurakhmanov then shows a hammer that he says was used by the man in the attack.
As the injured man lay on the ground, he says in the grainy video that he came from Moscow and that "they have my mother."
Rights groups say Kremlin-backed Ramzan Kadyrov, who has ruled the volatile region since 2007, uses repressive measures and has created a climate of impunity for security forces in the region. They claim Kadyrov is ultimately responsible for the violence and intimidation of political opponents by Chechen authorities, including kidnappings, forced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings.
Since fleeing Chechnya in 2015, the 32-year-old Abdurakhmanov has been unsuccessful in his attempts to be granted asylum in Europe.
He has twice filed for asylum in Poland and has been turned down once already, despite strong support from human rights activists such as Amnesty International, which has warned he is "at a very real risk of torture and other inhuman or degrading treatment" if returned to Russia.
Still, Abdurakhmanov has continued to criticize the Kadyrov regime, focusing on human rights violations and corruption in Chechnya, a predominantly Muslim region in Russia's North Caucasus. His YouTube channel has more than 140,000 subscribers.
Vayfond did not say where Abdurakhmanov was currently living, or where the attack occurred.
The Moscow-based Memorial Human Rights Center noted in a statement on February 27 that critics of Kadyrov were increasingly coming under attack.
"Numerous killings and attempted killings in Moscow, Russia's other regions, Turkey, Ukraine, and in the countries of Western and Central Europe, have been conducted by killers sent from Chechnya...Ramzan Kadyrov, under the Kremlin's passive eye, has publicly called on cracking down on critics of the Chechen authorities 'by killing, placing behind bars, and doing anything you want,'" the statement said.
According to Memorial, the chairman of the Chechen parliament and Kadyrov's close associate, Magomed Daudov, in March 2019 declared a blood feud with Abdurakhmanov, after which Chechen authorities allegedly tried to find killers among the Chechen diaspora in Europe to carry out attacks against critics of the regime.
"Now an attempt to kill was carried out, but fortunately it failed. We hope that the authorities of the country where it took place will be capable of investigating this crime and establishing who is behind it, although it is obvious anyway," the statement says.
Earlier in February, Abdurakhmanov was one of the sources giving detailed information about the killing of another exiled blogger from Chechnya, Imran Aliyev, in France.
In August last year, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a Georgian citizen of Chechen origin, was shot dead in broad daylight in central Berlin. Khangoshvili had fought in the second Chechen war against Russian forces in the early 2000s.
The investigative journalism group Bellingcat said earlier this month that a probe into Khangoshvili's killing showed that the attack was planned and organized by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).
The case has sparked a political dispute between Berlin and Moscow -- including tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats -- after Germany noted evidence suggested either the Russian government or authorities in Chechnya likely ordered the killing. Moscow denies the allegations.
A suspect who'd traveled to Germany on a Russian passport issued in the name of Vadim Sokolov was detained by police in Berlin shortly after the killing.
He is now on trial in a German court on charges of murder and weapons violations. In December, Bellingcat identified him as Vadim Krasikov -- a man also suspected in the 2013 killing in Moscow of a Russian businessman.
==========
Second article.
Anti-Putin blogger Imran Aliev found dead in France
Imran Aliev, 44, a Chechen blogger who opposed both Vladimir Putin and Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, was found dead in Lille, France, last week.
www.businessinsider.com
- French police believe the killing of a Chechen opposition blogger in a French hotel last week was "politically motivated," an official briefed on the case told Business Insider.
- Imran Aliev, a 44-year-old blogger who was vocally opposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, died when his throat was cut in Lille, France, last week.
- Police said they were hunting for Aliev's traveling companion, who disappeared shortly after the killing.
- The man had traveled with Aliev from Belgium to Lille on January 29, the day before Aliev was found dead.
- Aliev had been under police protection in Belgium because of "threats out of Russia and Chechnya over his opposition blogging," the official told Business Insider.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
French police believe that the killing of a blogger from the disputed Russian region of Chechnya in a French hotel room last week was "politically motivated," a French police official briefed on the case said.
The official said the police were now hunting for the blogger's traveling companion, who disappeared shortly after the killing.
French investigators wish to speak with the Chechen man who accompanied the blogger, Imran Aliev, 44, from his home in Belgium to northern France via train on January 29, the official said.
Aliev, who vocally opposed the Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin, was found dead the next morning by hotel staff.
His throat had been slit.
Aliev was from Chechnya, the southwestern Russia region that has seen two brutal wars for independence from Russia in recent decades. The region is controlled by Kadyrov, with approval from Moscow.
Aliev had left Belgium, "where he was under police protection because of threats out of Russia and Chechnya over his opposition blogging," said the senior French police official, who could not be identified in the media because they were discussing an open investigation.
"He was accompanied by another Chechen, who we have tentatively identified based on his travel documents," the official said.
"This identification could be a case of mistaken identity or even an illegal alibi," the official said, adding that the police could not determine anything "until we have spoken with this man we believe is an important witness."
The official refused to identify the man or confirm whether his location had been determined.
European intelligence and law-enforcement officials remain extremely concerned about assassinations of anti-Putin and Kadyrov dissidents throughout the European Union and the UK. At least 15 people have been killed by Russian hit squads in the UK, including innocent bystanders.
These concerns have become more acute since the attempted assassination in 2018 of Sergei and Yulia Skripal with a nerve agent in Salisbury, England, as well as the daylight assassination of a Chechen dissident in a crowded Berlin park last year.
The suspects in both cases have been linked to Russian intelligence services, as well as an attempted 2016 coup in Montenegro and the attempted assassination of a Bulgarian arms dealer, through photo identification and public access to various Russian government databases.
"Obviously, considering Aliev's history and previous threats, we need to strong examine the possibility of a state intelligence service in this murder, and we are collecting and analyzing evidence from travel patterns, electronic intercepts, and other investigative tools at our disposal," the French police official said.
The official said France had not yet contacted Russia for any assistance in the case.
A Belgian law-enforcement official familiar with the case refused to go on the record but suggested that Belgian authorities found the entire situation very suspicious.
"We had him under police protection for a reason," said the official.
The official said there were "'specific and credible threats' on his life from certain political sectors in Chechnya and Russia, which we could easily verify and concluded that protection was deserved."
The official refused to discuss the identity or movements of the man being sought by France or confirm whether he had also been under Belgian protection.
Asked whether Aliev had notified Belgian authorities of his plan to cross the border into France or of any security coordination with France, the Belgian official refused to comment directly.
"I cannot speak directly to whether anyone knew he planned to travel, but I would suggest that arranging protection for someone just a few kilometers over the border would not have been an issue," the official said.
====================
I'm sure @Judge Holden is going to have a field day with this. Ramzan Kadyrov needs to be overthrown, if not by his own people, then by Russia itself.
