The son of a woman kidnapped in Nizhny Novgorod spoke about the torture of his family at Kadyrov’s residence

The son of a woman abducted by Chechen security forces spoke about the torture of his family at the residence of Ramzan Kadyrov in 2015. This was reported by the Dozhd TV channel.

Public figure Ibragim Yangulbaev said on the TV channel that in 2015, he, along with his older brother, Committee Against Torture lawyer Abubakar Yangulbaev, and their father, federal judge Saidi Yangulbaev, were kidnapped from their home and taken to the residence of the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov. According to the activist, men were tortured there, including personally by the head of the republic and other officials. “Then they took me to the Terek SOBR, now the Akhmat SOBR, and there they also continued to torture me with electric shock and various torture instruments, and kept me in the basement for six months. None of my relatives knew where I was - whether I was alive or dead,” he added. Ibragim Yangulbaev connects the kidnapping with his activist activities: he led communities on social networks, where he talked about what was happening in the republic. He also added that his father was forced to write a letter of resignation from his position as a federal judge, threatening to kill his son, because the son did not stop criticizing the regime on social networks.

• On January 20, in Nizhny Novgorod, Chechen security forces kidnapped the mother of Ibragim and Abubakar Yangulbaev, Zarema Musaeva. In the evening, unknown persons who introduced themselves as police officers came to her and her husband Saidi Yangulbaev’s home. The security forces showed Yangulbaev's lawyer a resolution to bring the spouses to Chechnya as witnesses in a fraud case. The woman was then kidnapped from the apartment. Musayeva fainted on the stairs - she suffers from diabetes and may have coronavirus. Its location is still not reliably known. Late in the evening of January 22, the Chechen authorities published a video in which Musaeva, answering questions from an unknown man, claims that the security forces did not show any violence towards her and bought her insulin. The head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, announced that Musaeva almost scratched out the eye of a security officer and that a criminal case would be opened against her for this. He added that the “family” of Yangulbayevs “will have a place either in prison or underground.”
• Shortly before the New Year, Abubakar Yangulbaev’s apartment in Pyatigorsk was searched, after which he was interrogated by police officers. At the same time, his relatives were kidnapped in Chechnya: they were later released, but as of January 19, at least two people were still kidnapped.