Rights defender Cherkasov treats threat to Chechen political emigrants in Europe as systemic

It is impossible to comment on the rumours about the murder of the Chechen oppositional blogger, Tumso Abdurakhmanov, without relying on confirmed information, but Chechen political emigrants have been killed in Europe for more than a decade; however, European authorities fail to perceive the threat to their lives as systemic. This was stated by Alexander Cherkasov, a board member of the "Memorial" Centre for Defence of Human Rights*.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that new reports about Abdurakhmanov's death have not been confirmed by reliable sources, the Assembly of European Chechens and the "Vayfond" Chechen human rights association have pointed out. Law enforcers could have hidden the blogger for his safety, they have added.

In his interview with the "Dozhd" (Rain) TV Channel**, Mr Cherkasov has noted that he had no additional information about the situation with the blogger. "Yes, they had already attempted to assassinate Tumso; they threatened him and declared the blood feud … Tumso was the enemy number one among oppositional bloggers, because he had a huge audience compared to others," Alexander Cherkasov has concluded, adding that "in Europe, Chechen political emigrants have been killed for more than ten years." Among the first ones were the murder in 2004 in Qatar of Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, and in 2009 in Vienna of Umar Israilov.

According to Cherkasov, the attempts on Chechen political emigrants in Europe are committed by "professional, skilful criminals who know their job." He has added that the aim of such terror acts is "not to kill everyone, but to intimidate."