Human rights defenders assess chances for release of Chechen native Salman Tepsurkaev

The hopes of a wife of Salman Tepsurkaev that he is alive are justified, because the young man could be left alive in connection with a public outcry around his case, human rights defenders believe. They also suggest that relatives will get a chance to see Salman Tepsurkaev if he is declared to be a defendant in some criminal case.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in September, the wide public outcry was provoked by the video in which naked Salman Tepsurkaev was sitting down on a bottle and explaining that he was doing that as punishment for his cooperation with the 1Adat Telegram Channel, which criticized the Chechen authorities.

If Salman Tepsurkaev is still alive, it is partly due to the public outcry around his case, suggests Oleg Orlov, a member of the board of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial". Meanwhile, he notes that people should be very careful in their comments in order not to inflict harm to Salman Tepsurkaev.

Svetlana Gannushkina, the chair of the "Civic Assistance Committee", finds it difficult to understand who benefits from holding Salman Tepsurkaev captive and not letting him go if he is alive. "Why do people disappear in Chechnya? This is some kind of sadism ... All these stories negatively affect the image of not only Chechnya, but also Russia," Svetlana Gannushkina noted.

It is difficult to guess who needs to keep Salman Tepsurkaev for 1.5 months and what for, adds Dmitry Piskunov, the director of the North-Caucasian branch of the "Committee against Torture" (CaT).