‘You have one week to come home’

The family of a woman who fled Ingushetia is threatening to murder a human rights lawyer if she doesn’t return

Relatives of Marina Yandiyeva, a 28-year-old woman from Ingushetia who fled the republic in early October with help from the human rights group Team Against Torture, are threatening to kill Magomed Alamov, a lawyer for the group, and his family if Yandiyeva does not return home within a week, according to Team Against Torture and the crisis group SK SOS.

Marina Yandiyeva left her home, where her family had restricted her freedom of movement and subjected her to violence, on October 5. Magomed Alamov accompanied her for part of her journey, though both Team Against Torture and SK SOS emphasized that Alamov did not know Yandiyeva before the trip and was not informed about her situation.

On October 11, Alamov started receiving calls from Ingushetia’s Center for Countering Extremism. The agency demanded that Alamov come in for an interrogation about his involvement in the disappearance of Yandiyeva, who had by then been declared missing. Alamov told the authorities that he was already in a different region and that he had simply given Yandiyeva a ride.

After that conversation, according to SK SOS, Chechen police officers abducted Alamov’s brother and held him in a basement, where they demanded he call Alamov and convince him to return to Chechnya.

Soon after, Marina Yandiyeva and her lawyer went to a police department in another region and filed a request for her to be removed from the missing persons list. On October 20, officers at that police department informed the lawyer that police from Ingushetia were demanding Yandiyeva’s arrest in response to a theft report filed by her own relatives against her.

On October 23, Yandiyeva contacted her family in an attempt to resolve the situation. Her relatives gave the phone to Alamov, who they had managed to find and take to their home, according to SK SOS.

“I’m at your house, surrounded by your relatives. My life and the lives of my relatives are in danger. They set me a condition: one week for you to come home. If you don’t return within the week, they’ll kill me,” Alamov said.

According to Amnesty International, Alamov was able to leave the family’s house, but he fears his life is still under threat.

Zukhra Mestoyeva, another one of Yandiyeva’s relatives, confirmed to Yandiyeva that Alamov is in danger, according to SK SOS. “Let’s handle this situation without consequences for people, without consequences for our family. Let’s quietly, peacefully release this person. He has five children and a father who’s critically ill with cancer. Little kids, like kittens. You’re a Muslim, you have a heart,” she told Yandiyeva.

When Yandiyeva asked Mestoyeva whether she thought it was acceptable that the family was trying to force her to return by threatening to kill someone, Mestoyeva responded: “They won’t just kill one person there.”

According to Team Against Torture, the lives of Alamov’s relatives in Chechnya are also under threat.

“Yandiyeva’s relatives are high-level people in Ingushetia who have administrative resources. Marina’s aunt, Zarema Antoshkiyeva, is the republic’s acting health minister. Her uncle works in the Ingushetia Interior Ministry, and her other uncle has connections to Russia’s deputy defense minister,” said the organization’s press release.

The Team Against Torture said it has contacted the Russian Interior Ministry and the Russian Prosecutor General's Office and demanded they ensure the safety of Magomed Alamov and his family. SK SOS sent an appeal to Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova.