28 July 2019, 11:40
Rights defenders and residents of Chechnya disbelieve allegations that blogger Abdurakhmanov works for Chechen authorities
The Grozny resident, whose kidnapping was reported by the blogger, Tumso Abdurakhmanov, accused him, in his video message, of collaborating with the authorities. Social network users have treated this statement as a fake. Rights defenders are sure that the author made his video under pressure.
After his conflict with Ramzan Kadyrov's relative, Abdurakhmanov was persecuted and forced to leave Russia. He began posting videos on the Internet with harsh criticism of the situation in Chechnya and attracted the attention of hundreds of thousands viewers and Chechen authorities.
In a video posted in the public vragichr on the Instagram, a young man has insulted Abdurakhmanov, accusing him of "framing" the man and giving him out to Chechen authorities.
The blogger himself has stated in his Telegram channel that the young man was forced to record such a video.
Among local residents interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, opinions prevail that they are trying to denigrate Abdurakhmanov with the help of the young man, who was forced to condemn the blogger.
"This is exactly what the authorities need – to picture their critic unattractive, and to make sure that no one complains to him," said Abubakar, an NGO activist.
"Thumso is a strong irritant for the authorities. Apparently, in order to push people away from him, they launched information that he gives people out to Kadyrov's authorities," said Kheda, a local resident.
The statements that the blogger is cooperating with the Chechen authorities are aimed at discrediting him, said Ruslan Kutaev, the president of the public-political movement "Assembly of Caucasian Nations".
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 27, 2019 at 11:56 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Source: CK correspondents
