Bloggers from Chechen Diaspora in EU report receiving regular threats

The bloggers from the Chechen Diaspora living in the countries of the European Union (EU), who criticize Ramzan Kadyrov's regime, claim that they regularly receive threats.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 6, the Austrian press and sources in the Chechen Diaspora reported that the two persons detained in Austria on suspicion of involvement in the murder of the blogger, Mamikhan Umarov, are natives of Chechnya, who had been living in Europe for more than 15 years in the refugee status.

A month ago, Musa Lomaev, a refugee from Chechnya living in Finland, launched his YouTube channel entitled "Lomaev Musa".

According to his story, he himself repeatedly received threats. "Recently they came to my sister, who is married and lives in Chechnya; she has nothing to do with me, but they began terrorizing her. I received a threat that after they deal with Anzor from Vienna, I'll be the next," said Lomaev.

He said that he had filed an application to the Finnish police about the received threats. "The police expressed their confidence that I live in a safe country, and nothing will happen to me and my family," Musa Lomaev has concluded.

Musa Taipov, a journalist, a refugee from Chechnya living in France, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that "in fact, no one fells in safety." "When I lived in Strasbourg, I received threats. I contacted the police, but they ignored me. Surely, I associate threats with my activities – I'm running one of the oldest sites – the 'ichkeria.info'. There was not a single call for violence, Sharia, etc. on my website. However, in Russia it was included into the list of banned ones," Mr Taipov said.

According to his story, he fears envoys from Chechnya living in Europe: "I have no doubt that Vienna special services are tracking new arrivals at airports. But they don't know that ready-made performers are already in Europe waiting for orders. The most interesting thing is that these persons, who had worked in Chechen power structures, but then allegedly 'quarrelled' with them, are given the refugee status without any problems," he said.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 8, 2020 at 02:43 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.