Wife of the arrested native of Chechnya claims fabrication of charges

The case of Apti Visaev, a native of Chechnya, arrested for alleged helping militants, is built on fabricated evidence. Investigators are putting pressure on Visaev to get his confession, his wife told the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

The man was detained after explosives were found in the hideout he had equipped in the basement of his home. Law enforcers have also found correspondence in his gadgets, indicating his attempts to persuade his acquaintances to commit a terror act.

Aisha, Apti Visaev's wife, said that since 2019 he had lived in Norilsk, where he was serving his verdict for participation in illegal armed formations (IAFs) – he was sentenced to 14 years and 11 months in prison. He had confessed under severe torture.

On April 22, law enforcers in masks grasped Apti and searched his apartment; then, they accused him of persuading people to terrorist activities and aiding terrorists.

According to investigators, Apti Visaev, while supporting the ideas of "Imarat Kavkaz", a terrorist organization banned in Russia, from March 30 to April 5, 2021, by using the Telegram and Instagram called for an armed "jihad" and persuaded Azad Bekkarimov to commit a self-explosion at the parade on May 9, 2021, held in honour of the Victory Day in Norilsk.

Aisha, his wife, believes that the correspondence from some "secret number", in which Apti called on the person named Bekkarimov to commit a terror act, was fabricated. According to her version, her husband had never used the Telegram and had no Instagram page.

Visaev himself believes that his persecution has to do with his past and with the fact that local law enforcers did not like his communication with former prisoners, whom he helped in finding jobs and sent parcels to other inmates, the "Novaya Gazeta" writes.