Telegram chat moderators lodge to ICRF a complaint about torture in Chechnya

Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev lodged a complaint to the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) about their beatings and torture after the detentions in 2020 and 2021, the “Russian LGBT Network” reported.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 4, law enforcers took Salekh Magamadov and his brother Ismail Isaev from Nizhny Novgorod to Chechnya. At present, the detained young people are being kept in a SIZO (pre-trial prison) on suspicion of helping a militant from the grouping led by Aslan Byutukaev. The brothers reported beatings and threats in Chechnya.

Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev filed to the ICRF’s Department for Chechnya the complaint about torture by law enforcers during their detention in the spring of 2020 and in February 2021.

According to the young people, for two months after their detention in 2020, they were kept in a building of a law enforcement body in Grozny, tortured with electric current, and beaten for a long time with improvised objects. "An unknown man was beating me on my legs, arms, and back. He struck me about fifty blows with a plastic pipe ... I was screaming in pain, and after the beating, I could not move my fingers for a month," Ismail Isaev reported.

In their complaint, Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev also claimed that after their release on May 31, 2020, they were under constant control of law enforcers, who forced the brothers to report to them the personal data of people who criticized the authorities, as well as atheists and LGBT people. On July 2, 2020, the brothers managed to take advantage of the relaxation of the quarantine and leave Chechnya, being accompanied by an advocate. The brothers were hiding from Chechen law enforcers until their detention in February.