Turkish media give details of plotting attacks on Chechen oppositionists

Eight people, whose case has been brought to court in Turkey, had been plotting assassination attempts on political emigrants. One of the defendants, according to investigators, maintained contacts with Adam Delimkhanov, a Russian State Duma MP, Turkish media have reported.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on October 20, a court in Istanbul took in custody six persons who were detained on October 8 in Istanbul and Antalya on charges of political and military espionage. Five of the detainees have Russian citizenship.

The charges have been put forward against Bislan Rasaev, Abdulla Abdullaev, Aslanbek Abdulmuslimov, Amir Yusupov, Igor Efrim, Ravshan Akhmedov, Said-Magomed Abdullaev and Shokhrukh Akhmedov, the Turkish TRT TV Channel reported in the Russian language on February 16.

The defendants refused to plead guilty and stated that they had arrived in Turkey for business purposes. However, investigators cast doubt on this information and motivate their involvement in the imputed acts by the presence of sufficient grounds to believe that they are all members of a single grouping that participated in plotting assassination attempts on Chechen political emigrants.

According to investigators, the detainees had watched Chechen dissidents living in Turkey for a long time, while acting as businessmen or tourists.

According to the Turkish DHA Agency, the accused Bislan Rasaev had received instructions from Adam Delimkhanov, a Russian State Duma MP, with whom he was in touch, and from Kazbek Dokuzov, who is wanted by the Interpol for the murder of Paul Khlebnikov, the editor-in-chief of the Russian Forbes.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 17, 2022 at 10:15 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.