Status: 05.12.2022 18:09
A prominent opponent of Chechnya’s ruler Kadyrov is missing in Sweden. But the police and lawyers say nothing. There have already been murder plots against the blogger and his brother in Germany.
For days, friends, acquaintances and relatives have been worried about the prominent Chechen blogger Tumso Abdurachmonov. The opponent of ruler Ramzan Kadyrov does not answer calls and messages. Since November 30, he has not published anything on his Telegram channel under the name of Abu Saddam Shishani.
Now there are media reports, referring to people from the Chechen community in Russia and abroad, that he was shot dead on the night of December 1-2. His brother Mochmad was taken into police custody for his protection. Mochmad had been living in Bavaria for several years.
But there has been no confirmation from the Swedish authorities so far. The police in Stockholm said they were aware of the media reports. However, you cannot confirm this or comment on it in any way. The lawyers for Tumso and Mochmad in Sweden and Germany also did not comment on request.
Trials for assassination plans
Tumso and Mokhmad have long been known to be outspoken critics of Kadyrov and his regime, and have spoken out accordingly on social media. There were already assassination plots against both of them. These could be defeated.
In 2012, two Russian citizens from Chechnya were sentenced to long prison terms in Sweden for an attempted assassination attempt on Tumso. Tumso had received political asylum there after fleeing Chechnya in 2015.
A court case is currently underway in Munich against the Russian citizen Walid D. As a middleman, he is said to have ordered the murder of Mochmad from another Chechen, who revealed himself to Mochmad and the police in Munich.
As a result, Walid D. was arrested. A Makarov pistol with a silencer and magazines with ammunition were found on him. The Chechen has lived in Germany for more than 20 years. He is currently on trial before the Munich Higher Regional Court for conspiring to murder and preparing a serious subversive act “on behalf of state agencies in the Russian republic of Chechnya”.
Alleged middleman for the protection of the constitution
However, Walid is said to have also worked for the German Office for the Protection of the Constitution, as an employee of the Federal Criminal Police Office has since confirmed in court. One of Walid D.’s contacts at the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is said to have gotten Mochmad’s address for him. This week, two members of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution will testify in court, albeit behind closed doors. Several Chechen witnesses also spoke in front of closed doors. They had safety concerns.
However, Tumso testified in early November, accompanied by heavily armed police officers, but in front of an audience. He believes his brother Mochmad was targeted because the attack against him was foiled and he was given protection in Sweden.
For independence from Russia
Like many exiled Chechens, the brothers are not only campaigning against Kadyrov’s regime, whom they see as a ruler by the grace of Moscow. They are also striving for independence for Chechnya as an independent republic called Ichkeria. In two wars since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Chechens fought for this goal with great losses. After the Kadyrovs took power, the situation in Chechnya stabilized – at the price of a dictatorship.
Many Chechens are currently fighting Russian troops in Ukraine. Recently, in a symbolic but serious act, Ukraine recognized Chechnya as independent.
The leadership of Chechnya, in turn, is relentlessly pursuing its opponents. She swore vendetta against Tumso and his family. According to Tumso, many family members were arrested in Chechnya. He and Mochmad received death threats almost daily.
Hardly any reports from Sweden
The victim of the Berlin “Tiergarten murder”, the Chechen Selimkhan Changoschvili, was also an opponent of Russia. However, according to the investigators’ findings, he was killed in revenge for actions in the Second Chechen War on behalf of central Russian state authorities. The convicted murderer is a Russian with ties to the FSB secret service and the Wympel special unit. He committed the act in the middle of the day in a busy park.
If anything happened to Tumso, it was apparently without attracting public attention. So far there have been hardly any media reports from Sweden on the whereabouts of the brothers. “Aftonbladet” from Stockholm only reported that Tumso was missing. The newspaper quoted the police as saying that they could not comment on the media reports.