Tepsurkaev’s wife re-wins appeal in Supreme Court of Chechnya

The Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya again cancelled the decision of the instance court, which refused to consider common-law wife of Salman Tepsurkaev as a victim in the case on his kidnapping.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that Salman Tepsurkaev, a native of Chechnya, was killed in September 2020 and buried in an unmarked grave, but reports about his death did not appear until August 2022. According to the “1Adat”* Telegram channel, relatives of Salman Tepsurkaev were told by law enforcers to “bury him like a dog.” On June 22, 2021, Chechen investigators refused to recognize Elizaveta, a common-law wife of Salman Tepsurkaev, as a victim in the case on his kidnapping. On October 19, 2021, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found the authorities of Russia responsible for the disappearance and torture of Salman Tepsurkaev and obliged them to pay compensation of 26,000 euros. Lawyers pointed out that in 2021, the ECtHR recognized the religious marriage of Salman Tepsurkaev as proven.

Irina Zhizhenkova, a lawyer for the North-Caucasian branch of the “Team Against Torture”**, reported that after a complaint returned from the Supreme Court, the court pronounced exactly the same decision as previously, adding only the argument that a wife could be recognized as a victim only in the event of the husband’s death, but the death of Salman Tepsurkaev had not been officially confirmed. “This is illegal. For example, Salman’s father, who disowned his son, was recognized as a victim in the case on the son’s kidnapping,” the “Kavkaz.Realii”* quoted Irina Zhizhenkova as saying.

According to the lawyer, during the hearing of the Supreme Court, an investigator stated that Elizaveta was Salman’s cohabitant and did not recognize their religious marriage.

It also became known that the investigation into the case on Salman Tepsurkaev’s kidnapping was suspended due to the fact that the investigator had performed all the necessary investigative actions. However, the persons involved in Salman Tepsurkaev’s kidnapping have not been identified, which indicates the ineffectiveness of the investigation, Irina Zhizhenkova explains.

*In July 2021, the Zavodskoi District Court of Grozny recognized a number of posts by the “1Adat” Telegram channel as extremist and also recognized the “1Adat” Movement’s Internet resources as prohibited, and in May 2022, the Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya recognized the “1Adat” Movement itself as an extremist organization and banned its activities in the territory of Russia.

**The “Team Against Torture” (formerly the “Committee Against Torture”) was created by lawyers who previously worked for the “Committee Against Torture” (CaT), which was included in the register of NCOs performing the functions of foreign agents.

***Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.