The Munich Higher Regional Court has sentenced a Russian citizen to ten years in prison for planning the murder of a Chechen opponent of the regime. The order came from the environment of ruler Kadyrov.
The Munich Higher Regional Court has sentenced Russian citizen Walid D. to ten years in prison for preparing a political murder on behalf of the Chechen Security Council by ruler Ramzan Kadyrov.
The convict planned and organized the murder of Chechen opposition figure Mochmad Abdurachmanov, who lived in Bavaria. According to investigators, he received the order from a cousin of Chechen ruler Ramzan Kadyrov.
The murder was prepared “with the knowledge, approval and interest” of Kadyrov, said the presiding judge Christoph Wiesner. The aim was blood revenge, because not only Mochmad but also his brother Tumso was to be silenced. An attack was carried out on Tumso Abdurachmanow, who lives in Sweden, in February 2020. The perpetrators, two Russian citizens, were sentenced to long prison terms.
After Walid D. received the murder order between March and June 2020, he procured a firearm and ammunition. With an accomplice, he scouted out Mochmad’s place of residence in Bavaria in December 2020. The accomplice was eventually supposed to do the deed, but revealed himself to the victim and the police.
At the end of June, the federal prosecutor’s office had demanded eleven years in prison for, among other things, “declaring his willingness to commit murder” and “preparing a serious act of violence that endangered the state”. The defense had demanded an extensive acquittal.
criticism on defense of Constitution in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Mochmad Abdurachmanov appeared as a joint plaintiff in the trial. “I should be murdered because I and my brother Tumso Abdurachmanow publicly criticize the Russian regime in Chechnya,” he said through his lawyer Johanna Künne. It was a political motive, the letter said tagesschau.de present.
In it, Abdurachmanow thanks the federal prosecutor’s office and the Federal Criminal Police Office for the professional investigation, “but I am shocked by the role played by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.” He was not allowed to comment on this, since the taking of evidence was carried out without publicity and under a duty of confidentiality. No journalists or visitors were allowed to be present in the courtroom on the days of the hearing on this subject.
However, so much had become known that one of Walid D.’s contacts at the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is said to have obtained Abdurachmanow’s address in Bavaria. Walid D. himself is said to have worked for the German Office for the Protection of the Constitution, as an employee of the Federal Criminal Police Office confirmed in court.
Height safety precautions
Several Chechen witnesses also spoke in camera in camera. They had security concerns, as the entire process took place under high security precautions anyway.
Tumso Abdurachmanow, however, traveled from Sweden. He testified in November 2022, 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.
Shortly thereafter he went into hiding in Sweden. Several media reported that he had been shot there. However, there was no confirmation from the Swedish authorities. The lawyers for Tumso and Mochmad in Sweden and Germany also did not comment on request at the time. Tumso later spoke up again. He had to go into hiding because he feared for his life.
Mochmad Abdurachmanow does not want to be intimidated by any of this: “I will continue my political activities,” ends the letter from his lawyer Künne.