Abubakar Yangulbaev, whose mother was kidnapped by Chechen security forces, turned to Putin with a request to remove Kadyrov from the post of head of Chechnya

Human rights activist and ex-lawyer of the “Committee against Torture” Abubakar Yangulbaev, whose mother was kidnapped by Chechen security forces, on the air of the Dozhd TV channel addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin with a request to remove Ramzan Kadyrov from the post of head of Chechnya.

“Vladimir Vladimirovich, I think that the time has come to change the head of the Chechen Republic. This one is all over. This is the edge. The bottom is not just broken, it goes straight. This is no longer tolerable. Change to a normal intellectual person. People are ready to start a dialogue. We don’t need a person who can’t even talk, but can only kidnap people,” Yangulbaev said.

Recall that on January 20 in Nizhny Novgorod, Chechen police officers broke into the apartment of the federal judge Saydi Yangulbaev, the father of Abubakar Yangulbaev, a former employee of the Committee against Torture. They could not kidnap Saydi Yangulbaev himself, since he has a judicial immunity status, but they took away his wife Zarema Musaeva. The pretext for the abduction was that she was allegedly a witness in a fraud case in Grozny, where they were going to take her by force. Musayeva is sick with coronavirus, and besides, she has diabetes. She is dependent on insulin, which she was not allowed to take with her. Her family feared that she might die along the way. As she was being dragged up the stairs, she lost consciousness.

The police and the FSB officers of Nizhny Novgorod did not react in any way to the requests of Musaeva’s relatives for help and the allegations of the abduction. The Kremlin said it was not aware of the details of the abduction and preferred not to believe it.

The “Committee against Torture” filed an urgent complaint with the ECtHR under Rule 39 in connection with the kidnapping of Musayeva. Rule 39 – “fast legal aid” from the ECtHR. It applies if there is a threat to life or harm to human health, and all national remedies have been exhausted.

Ramzan Kadyrov commented the abduction of the wife of Saydi Yangulbaev and the mother of Abubakar and Ibragim Yangulbaev. According to Kadyrov, Zarema Musaeva will face either jail for assaulting a police officer or death. He promised the same fate to the entire Yangulbaev family.

Minister of Chechnya for National Policy, Foreign Relations, Press and Information Akhmed Dudayev declaredthat public attention to the abduction of the wife of the former judge of the Supreme Court of Chechnya, Saydi Yangulbaev, is allegedly connected with the nationality of the policemen. About it writes RBC.

“We are once again seeing how the lawful actions of the law enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation attract such attention from the yellow press and various alleged human rights activists only because the police are from the Chechen Republic,” Dudayev said in a conversation with the publication.

In addition, he added that the media had voiced “absolutely incorrect” presentation of information about the statements of the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, after the kidnapping of Zarema Musayeva. “Neither Ramzan Akhmatovich’s statement, nor anyone else’s statements say that she was brought to the republic in connection with the activities of her son or anyone,” Dudayev said.

January 22 Kadyrov published a new post on the Telegram channel, in which he called the Yangulbaev family “accomplices of terrorists” and stated that his words to them supposedly should be taken “not as a threat, but as a well-deserved punishment.”

“The inhabitants of the Chechen Republic, as I said earlier, are so outraged by the statements of the Yangulbaevs to the whole people that I feel that they will not stand on ceremony with them when they meet. For them, it would be better if the law enforcement agencies get to them first, and not the Chechens, angry with their insults. <...> Even if I keep silent, the society will express its opinion,” says Kadyrov’s publication.

In a conversation with The Insider, Abubakar Yangulbaev, a human rights activist, ex-lawyer of the Committee against Torture, and son of Zarema Musayeva, stressed that only Kadyrov’s subordinates can take revenge on him.

“The Chechens will not take revenge on me, only the Kadyrovites will take revenge on me, this is a different nationality with its own traditions and laws. The Kadyrovites are not shy about anything. These are guardsmen who gradually, legally, terrorize the Russians,” Yangulbaev said.

He also said that there is still no information about the condition of his mother, except for what was broadcast in the Chechen media, which he does not trust. “No one can find her in Chechnya. All relatives are out of touch. I suspect they may have been taken again. Maybe they are filming a staged video where the clan allegedly abandons my mother and our family,” the human rights activist added.

Earlier, Chechen blogger Ibragim Yangulbaev, known for his sharp criticism of the Chechen authorities, in an interview with Dozhd TV channel declaredthat in 2015, together with his father and brother, he was kidnapped and tortured at the residence of Ramzan Kadyrov, and Kadyrov personally participated in the torture.

According to Ibragim Yangulbaev, the three of them were tortured and beaten for criticizing the government: “Personally, Kadyrov tortured me, tortured and beat my father, my older brother.” Ibragim Yangulbaev said that later his brother and father were released, and he himself was taken to the Terek SOBR (now the Akhmat SOBR), where they continued to mock, after which they kept him in the basement for six months.

Ibrahim Yangulbaev informed about this and on his Instagram account: “I was kidnapped, my father was kidnapped, my older brother Abubakar was also kidnapped. We were tortured in the residence and tried to get me to apologize and stop my activities. They threw me into the basement, kept me there for six months, no one knew that I was alive or dead.

Retired federal judge Saidi Yangulbaev, father of Ibragim Yangulbaev, also told publication Znak.com about what happened at the residence of Kadyrov: “Abubakar and I [старшим сыном] they were taken there first. They started beating Ibragim while we were still there, then continued when we were released. Abubakar Ibrahim tried to cover himself up, they also started beating him. Then I could not stand it already, pounced on them. I say to Ramzan: “What are you doing at all ?!” I got hit too. Then he said: his [Ибрагима] leave them here [Сайди и Абубакара] send home. ⟨…⟩ According to Ibragim, Ramzan beat him, stood with his feet on his neck. Lord beat – Daudov ⟨Magomed Daudov, nicknamed Lord – Chairman of the Parliament of Chechnya⟩… Yes, everything, in short.

Abubakar Yangulbaev, in an interview with Znak.com, also mentioned torture at Kadyrov’s residence: “In 2015, I, my father and Ibragim were kidnapped personally on Kadyrov’s orders, taken to his residence. And there we were tortured. All this was because we criticize the government.”

In conversation with The Insider, he addedthat the head of Chechnya personally accuses him personally and his entire family as a whole of involvement in the ADAT Telegram channel. “This is a channel that criticizes the Chechen authorities, they write about the Chechen realities – abductions, torture, murders, in which the Kadyrovites are involved, about money laundering, fraud – a complete package of the Criminal Code,” Yangulbaev explained.