18 February 2023, 16:25
Video of Idris Arsamikov's detention by Chechen law enforcers posted
Idris Arsamikov, whose whereabouts were unknown after being detained by Chechen law enforcers at a Moscow airport, has claimed in the video posted in a social network that he was at home in Chechnya and intended to go to the special military operation (SMO) in Ukraine. He also asked human rights defenders to "leave him alone." The video recording was made under duress, as the detention of Arsamikov caused a great public outcry, the SK SOS Crisis Group has stated.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 16, the SK SOS Crisis Group reported that the 28-year-old Idris Arsamikov, who had returned from the Netherlands to Russia, was detained at the Domodedovo Airport. Presumably, he was taken to Chechnya, where he is in mortal danger, human rights defenders have pointed out. Arsamikov returned to Chechnya in the spring of 2022 for his father's funeral, after which he was detained and tortured three times. He also could not return to the Netherlands, as his documents were taken away from him.
Idris Arsamikov left Russia in 2018 after being beaten up and tortured on suspicion of being homosexual.
In the above video, Arsamikov urged human rights defenders, especially those who defend the rights of LGBT people, to "let him alone with their attempts to protect some of his rights." He also reproached them for insulting him and his "honour and the nation." "And I'm a patriot, like my two brothers who serve in Ukraine. I'll probably heal up and also go to Ukraine soon. I'm a man and I'm going to get married soon," he has stated.
An elderly man, who introduced himself as Arsamikov's uncle, has stated that he knows his nephew well and treated the human rights defenders' statements as "dirt."
According to the SK SOS Crisis Group, this video raises doubts that it was "not recorded under duress." "Such public "repentances" in an attempt to whitewash the authorities is a constant practice in Chechnya," the Group's Telegram channel says.
The story about how people with non-traditional sexual orientation live in Chechnya and how the fate of some of them was after the start of mass raids, was told to the "Caucasian Knot" by a homosexual from Chechnya, who managed to leave the country, in his interview "They will kill you anyway, be it family or strangers”: gay about life in Chechnya and flight from Russia."
On August 8, 2017, Zelimkhan Bakaev, a 26-year-old native of Grozny, went missing; and on September 24 of the same year, a video was released in which he said that he was in Germany. However, his acquaintances and human rights defenders treated the video as staged. In November 2020, human rights defenders reported that Bakaev's fate remained unknown, although Ramzan Kadyrov indirectly confirmed that he had been killed.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 17, 2023 at 10:52 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Source: Caucasian Knot
