HRC "Memorial"* claims France's responsibility for death of a Chechen deported to Russia

By handing documents from the migration case of Daud Muradov, who died after being deported to Russia, over to Russia, French authorities doomed him to torture and endangered other people, rights defenders and journalists in Chechnya, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial"* has stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 8, Muradov's death was announced by the European Assembly of Chechens that has recalled that deportation of Chechens is on stream, and called on the French authorities to protect emigrants' rights.

According to human rights defenders, law enforcers detained Daud at a Moscow airport and accused him of promoting terrorism – he had allegedly by acting from France recruited Russians into illegal armed formations (IAFs) operating in Northern Caucasus. Later, he told that law enforcers took him to the forest, where they severely tortured him and forced him to sign confessions to crimes.

According to investigators, Muradov had set up a terrorist grouping on the Internet that planned a terror act in Grozny.

Besides, Paris has handed over to Moscow documents with confidential testimonies of Daud and members of his family given to the French migration services when they asked for asylum. They stated that Chechen law enforcers had kidnapped the 15-year-old Daud, tortured him and kept him in custody for 48 days.

Oyub Titiev, an employee of the HRC "Memorial"*, has added that Muradov's relatives refused to contact human rights organizations. "This silence only condones such egregious violations of human rights," he has stated.