The government-critical Chechen blogger Tumso Abdurakhmanov was shot dead in Sweden on Thursday night. That reports Radio Free Europe and confirm his supporters Monday via Telegram. The 36-year-old YouTuber fled the autonomous Russian republic of Chechnya in 2015 and has been granted political asylum in Sweden.
The circumstances of the murder are unclear, but Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been chasing critics such as Abdurakhmanov at home and across the border. In February 2020, two Russian nationals already tried to kill Abdurakhmanov in Sweden with a hammer. One of them later testified that the Chechen government would pay him 50,000 euros for the murder of Abdurakhmanov.
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In 2020, the body of 44-year-old Imran Aliyev, also an outspoken opponent of Kadyrov, was found stabbed in his throat in a hotel room in Lille. Aliyev had also fled Chechnya. Georgian-Chechen fighter Zelimchan Changoshvili was killed in broad daylight in Berlin in 2019. The German government expelled two Russian diplomats for the murder.
Read also Critical Chechen blogger murdered in Lille hotel
Kadyrov has held power in Chechnya since 2007. The warmongering macho leader, who likes to be photographed with big guns, has been accused by human rights organizations of murder, kidnapping, torture and other human rights violations.
Read also Ramzan Kadyrov: Chechnya’s strongman who seems to be above Putin’s laws