Critics of Chechen ruler Ramzan Kadyrov shouldn’t feel safe even in exile: a Russian has been arrested for preparing the murder of an opposition figure near Augsburg.
When the verdict was pronounced, Mokhmad Abdurakhmanov appeared resolute: “I will continue my political activity,” he says – the activity that almost cost the life of the German-based critic of the Chechen regime. On Thursday, the Munich Higher Regional Court sentenced a mastermind to ten years in prison for a planned assassination attempt on Abdurakhmanov.
The court found the defendant Valid D. guilty, among other things, of declaring his willingness to commit murder and preparing a serious act of violence that endangered the state. D. had prepared the act on behalf of a cousin of the Chechen ruler Ramzan Kadyrov, who is loyal to Putin. For this he also procured a gas pistol, which had been converted into a live weapon, along with ammunition.
According to the judges, between March and June 2020 the convict received the order to murder opposition leader Abdurakhmanov, who lives in Schwabmünchen in the Augsburg district. Finally, he in turn hired another man to do the deed. Together, the two accomplices scouted out Abdurakhmanov’s environment in Schwabmünchen in December 2020.
A tip put the police on the track
After a tip to the police, he was arrested in January 2021. The court ruled that the act, as D. had planned, fulfilled the murder criteria of insidiousness and base motives. At the end of June, the federal prosecutor had asked for eleven years in prison. The defense largely pleaded for acquittal – the accused was only guilty of a weapons offense.
The murder was prepared “with knowledge, approval and interest” by ruler Kadyrov, said the presiding judge Christoph Wiesner. This was not only intended to silence the victim himself, but also his brother, who was also a well-known critic of the regime and was living in exile in Sweden. A “blood revenge” was planned, said judge Wiesner.
Ramzan Kadyrov has been President of the Russian republic of Chechnya since 2007 and has been linked to the murders of several opponents. The act showed “how the regime deals with its critics at home and abroad,” said the judge. If necessary, critical voices would be eliminated by force. The “climate of fear” that prevails in Chechnya became “tangible” during the proceedings.
Opposition only possible abroad
Critics of the Kadyrov government living in other European countries are being targeted by the regime because they have completely different options than their allies at home, says Chechnya expert Miriam Katharina Hess from the German Council on Foreign Relations: “Public opposition work In the case of Chechen opposition members, this is actually only possible outside of Chechnya – from Europe, for example.”
Kadyrov’s government, meanwhile, plays an important role in Vladimir Putin’s power in the Chechnya region. Kadyrov, who is loyal to the Russian President, is “a valuable resource” for him.
The case is reminiscent of the “Tiergarten murder” in Berlin. A Russian citizen was sentenced to life imprisonment in December 2021 for the shooting of a Georgian in August 2019. At the time, the court spoke of Russian “state terrorism”. Russia has denied such allegations. The verdict led to diplomatic upheavals between Germany and Russia.
Judge Wiesner said that the planned act in Schwabmünchen was also “a state order to kill by the Chechen regime”. The reason was expressly the opposition activity of the victim. He wished the victim, who took part in the process as a joint plaintiff, “that you can live here in peace and undisturbed”.
Source: Stern
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