Tumso Abdurakhmanov

Tumso Abdurakhmanov is a blogger from Chechnya. After a conflict with Ramzan Kadyrov's relative, he left the republic and went first to Georgia, and then to Poland, where he is trying to get political asylum.

Seeking for asylum

According to his story, from November 8, 2015, Tumso Abdurakhmanov was in Georgia, where he tried to get political asylum.

On October 31, 2016, the Ministry for Refugees' Matters of Georgia refused to grant asylum to him.

In July 2017, Abdurakhmanov reported his detention in one of the countries, where he went from Georgia, not specifying the reason for his detention.

On December 20, 2017, Tumso Abdurakhmanov appealed, from the deportation prison in Warsaw, to Polish authorities and the UN representatives asking to grant political asylum to him and his family, rejected by Polish authorities earlier, and to prevent his extradition to Russia. He explained that the reason for prosecuting him in Russia was in his conflict with a high-ranking relative of the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov.

On April 10, 2018, Abdurakhmanov reported the arrest of four brothers of his parents. On May 1, a plot appeared on the "Grozny" Chechen TV and Radio Company, in which Tumso's relatives called on him to stop criticizing the authorities and return to Russia. The blogger himself explained that the relatives' call was made under authorities' pressure.

Later, in social networks, he reported the second refusal of asylum. "The Council on Refugees' Matters, which considered my appeal against the first refusal, decided to deny every type of my protection. At the same time, the Council provided protection to my family." According to the blogger, the refusal was motivated by the recommendation of the National Security Agency (NSA) of Poland, which considered his stay in the country to be a threat to its security. "Exactly the same justification was in Georgia when they denied asylum for me in this country," said Tumso Abdurakhmanov.

The return of the Chechen blogger, Tumso Abdurakhmanov, to Russia threatens him with torture and unfair persecution, says the statement of the international human rights organization Amnesty International (AI). A copy of the statement, dated January 3, 2019, is at the disposal of the "Caucasian Knot".

Biography – blogger

Tumso Abdurakhmanov is a former deputy head of the Chechen state company "Electrosvyaz". He is running his video blogs on the YouTube. His first channel "Abu-Saddam Shishani" was launched on June 9, 2013; the second one, "Abu-Saddam Shishani [LIVE]", appeared on April 1, 2017.

Around early July of 2017, Abdurakhmanov's videos began gaining hundreds of thousands pageviews. The most popular video – over 2.3 million pageviews – "A Conversation with Kadyrov's Lord/Part One" shows Tumso Abdurakhmanov talk in the Chechen language with a man, who introduced himself as Magomed Daudov, the Speaker of the Chechen Parliament.

Chechen authorities accuse Abdurakhmanov of having links with the "Islamic State" (IS), a terrorist grouping, banned in Russia by the court. A criminal case was initiated against him under the article of "participation in illegal armed formations (IAFs) outside the country".