Video message by Zelimkhan Bakaev. Screenshot of video posted by user Artum Lebedev, https://zona.media/news/2017/09/25/drive

25 September 2017, 20:51

Bakaev's friends and rights defenders treat his video appeal as staged

The video, in which the Chechen singer Zelimkhan Bakaev confesses that he is in Germany, is badly directed and poorly staged, Bakaev's acquaintances and rights defenders Svetlana Gannushkina and Tatiana Lokshina told the "Caucasian Knot".

Zelimkhan Bakaev, a 26-year-old native of Grozny, disappeared on August 8. Singer's friends suggested that he could be kidnapped, while others associated his disappearance to a conflict in his family.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 24, a video appeared on the Internet, in which the Chechen singer Zelimkhan Bakaev confessed that he was in Germany and invited his friend from Holland to come there.

Zelimkhan Bakaev's acquaintances believe that the video is staged.

"I saw this video and I got an impression of some kind of unnaturalness and staged nature; it seems that everything was deliberately staged," one of the singer's acquaintances told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on conditions of anonymity.

Tatiana Lokshina, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) Programme Director for Russia, also believes that the video was staged. "It seems at least strange that while his closest relatives are crazy about the unknown, and his mother begs the Chechen leadership to provide at least some information, Bakaev records a cheerful address to a friend. Personally, I have no confidence in the video," Ms Lokshina told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Svetlana Gannushkina, the head of the Civil Assistance Committee, does not exclude that the video with Bakaev "was made under pressure." "There is a big question when the video with Bakaev was actually recorded. It's unclear why he recorded an appeal to a friend, when his relatives are searching for him everywhere," Ms Gannushkina told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.

Source: CK correspondents

All news
НАСТОЯЩИЙ МАТЕРИАЛ (ИНФОРМАЦИЯ) ПРОИЗВЕДЕН И РАСПРОСТРАНЕН ИНОСТРАННЫМ АГЕНТОМ ООО “МЕМО”, ЛИБО КАСАЕТСЯ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ ИНОСТРАННОГО АГЕНТА ООО “МЕМО”.

November 03, 2024 21:30

November 03, 2024 18:18

  • Court slightly reduces sentences of Gadjiev, Rizvanov, and Tambiev

    In his final speech, Dagestani journalist Abdulmumin Gadjiev has requested court to fully acquit him in the case on financing terrorism. However, the military court of appeal only reduced by two months the sentences for Abdulmumin Gadjiev, Kemal Tambiev, and Abubakar Rizvanov.

November 02, 2024 22:13

  • Priest Pivovarov calls news of his death a provocation

    Viktor Pivovarov, a priest from Slavyansk-on-Kuban, has been subjected to stalking after the start of a criminal prosecution in a case on fakes about the Russian Army. The stalker threatens Viktor Pivovarov, insults him online, and disseminate false messages about him.

November 02, 2024 22:11

November 01, 2024 23:54

News archive