Detention of British citizen Magomed Abubakarov in Chechnya attracts attention of human rights defenders

During a week after British citizen Magomed Abubakarov had been detained at his mother’s home in Chechnya, the republic’s authorities did not disclose the reasons for his detention. Relatives of Magomed Abubakarov refuse to make contact with human rights defenders because of threats from law enforcers, Oyub Titiev suggests. The law enforcers can falsify the case, believing that the foreigner from the rich country is an easy prey, warns Ruslan Kutaev, the president of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations.

Magomed Abubakarov had to leave Russia, human rights defender Oyub Titiev emphasizes. “In 2009, Abubakarov was kidnapped and tortured, and he was suspected of aiding and abetting Chechen militants. He was sentenced to 1.3 years of imprisonment for assisting an illegal armed formation (IAF). In 2013, Abubakarov left for the UK, where he was granted political asylum and later citizenship,” the human rights defender noted.

The law enforcement bodies artificially create criminal cases in order to prove that “there are enemies all around,” Svetlana Gannushkina* believes. She has noted that a citizen of a “hostile state” who came to Chechnya is at great risk.

Magomed Abubakarov made a big mistake when he decided to come home to visit his family, says opposition blogger Musa Lomaev, who lives abroad.

“After Khusein Djambetov’s interview, in which he confesses his misconceptions about Ramzan Kadyrov and calls on everyone to come to their senses and return to Chechnya, the number of “missing” people has increased. In general, they are those who have relatives living abroad ... or those who have visited someone in Europe. For example, Imam Valid Kuruev, who, as soon as he arrived from Europe, was taken away by law enforcers together with his nephew and son, and nothing is known about their fate so far,” Musa Lomaev noted.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.