Chechen woman urges ICRF to deal with Taramova's case

Khalimat Taramova is in danger; there is no information about her for more than two months, Aminat Lorsanova, who fled Chechnya, said in a video message addressed to Alexander Bastrykin, the head of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) and urged him to intervene in Taramova's case.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 10, 2021, Dagestani law enforcers and their Chechen colleagues broke into the Makhachkala shelter for domestic violence victims. Khalimat Taramova, who was hiding there, was taken to her relatives in Chechnya.

For more than two months there has been no information about Taramova, Aminat Lorsanova, a native of Chechnya, stated in her video posted on September 2 on the YouTube channel of the "Russian LGBT Network".

"Two months have passed since the abduction of Khalimat; and after the Grozny TV report there is no news that she is alive and healthy. I hope that she is alive. But even if she is physically alive, this does not mean that she is actually living. When you are under total control, you are locked, without communication and documents, without any chance to get out, you don't live, you just exist," says Aminat Lorsanova.

Her video appeal is addressed to the head of the Investigative Committee of Russia. "Alexander Bastrykin, how many more people should die in Chechnya <...>? On my application, there has been no investigation in Russia for two years," she points out.

Aminat recalls that she herself ran away from relatives in Chechnya on the fourth attempt. "I was forced to be a devout Muslim through beatings, reading the Koran and forced psychiatric treatment," she said.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on September 2, 2021 at 06:58 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.