23:48, 24 March 2021

Kadyrov criticizes former law enforcer who spoke about mass executions in Chechnya

Suleiman Gezmakhmaev (on the left) and Ramzan Kadyrov. Screenshots of the videos: groznytv https://www.instagram.com/tv/CMzJrKkpNnC/?igshid=pfu4x4q58hei https://www.instagram.com/p/CMzBK03p3js/

Former policeman Suleiman Gezmakhmaev, who spoke about extrajudicial killings, made up a story to obtain asylum in Europe, said Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Chechnya.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that today, on the air of the “Grozny” TV Channel, an uncle of Suleiman Gezmakhmaev reported that his nephew used psychotropic substances and fled Russia, while owing large amounts of money.

Suleiman Gezmakhmaev's stories about torture in Chechnya are an attempt to obtain political asylum, Ramzan Kadyrov says. This is his first public response to the material released by the newspaper “Novaya Gazeta”.

Following the relatives of Suleiman Gezmakhmaev, Ramzan Kadyrov declared him a drug addict and spoke about his "unpaid loans."

Suleiman Gezmakhmaev, a former fighter of the Akhmat Kadyrov special-purpose police regiment, was the first person who was not afraid to publicly and under his own name talk about the extrajudicial executions, committed by the Chechen law enforcement bodies in 2016-2017. It is extremely dangerous to make such information public in Chechnya, human rights defenders believe.

Let us remind you that after the publication of the Suleiman Gezmakhmaev's story in the “Novaya Gazeta”, fighters from the Akhmat Kadyrov special-purpose police regiment appealed to President Vladimir Putin and urged him to stop “an information war” against their regiment.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 24, 2021 at 05:49 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.