Imran Aliev's murder reveals threat to Chechen activists in Europe

The murder in France of blogger Imran Aliev is an act aimed to intimidate critics of the Chechen government, believes Tumso Abdurakhmanov. The killer was hunting for Minkail Malizaev, whom the French authorities refused to provide police protection, suggested activist Djambulat Suleimanov and human rights defender Daniel Mihailovic.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 1, it became known that the body of Imran Aliev, a migrant from Chechnya and a blogger, known as Mansur Stary, was found with stab wounds in a hotel in the French city of Lille. Imran Aliev was killed by a resident of the Gudermes District of Chechnya, who has already returned to Chechnya, the Chechen blogger, Tumso Abdurakhmanov, stated on February 2.

In France, the law enforcement agencies failed to promptly respond to the murder of blogger Imran Aliev, believes Daniel Mihailovic, a member of the French association Comité Tchétchénie (Chechen Committee).

"The French police reported the incident to the media only several days after the Chechen bloggers had described both the circumstances of the murder and the identity of the killer and disseminated photos. Of course, the secret of the investigation should be respected. However, the question arises whether that was dictated by considerations not to aggravate relations with Russia after what had happened in Germany," Daniel Mihailovic told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Djambulat Suleimanov, the head of the association "Bart-Marcho", suggested that the killer's main goal was Minkail Malizaev. "Imran Aliev himself was hardly interesting to customers. Most likely, Minkail Malizaev was of their interest. Let's say, he speaks ill-favoured of the Chechen authorities. As follows from the posted audio records, (killer and Imran Aliev) were to visit Minkail Malizaev, but something happened on the way, and Mansur Old fell victim to the situation," said Djambulat Suleimanov.

According to Daniel Mihailovic, Minkail Malizaev requested the police protection in France. So far, it has not been provided to him.

Blogger Tumso Abdurakhmanov believes that the murder of Imran Aliev was an "act of intimidation" organized by the Chechen authorities. "This is a demonstration that they will openly take revenge like that for the statements posted," Tumso Abdurakhmanov added.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 5, 2020 at 03:31 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.