Human rights defenders voice probable motives for Chechen boxer Salamov’s release

The fame of World and European Boxing Champion Umar Salamov could be one of the reasons for his release by the Chechen law enforcement bodies, human rights defenders note. They emphasize that when relatives of the people kidnapped by law enforcers refuse to communicate with human rights defenders and journalists, they hope for leniency from the law enforcement bodies towards their family members. However, such silence gives rise to impunity for repression in the republic.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that law enforcers released Umar Salamov, who was kidnapped in January together with residents of the village of Alkhan-Kala. Most of those kidnapped were convicted under the article on participation in an illegal armed formation (IAF) and are serving their sentences.

The fame of Umar Salamov helped him to some extent, believes Oleg Orlov, the co-chair of the “Memorial” Centre for Defence of Human Rights. “Ramzan Kadyrov personally knows about Umar Salamov and spoke out about him. It is quite possible that fact helped the athlete,” noted the human rights defender.

Fame does not guarantee protection from torture or imprisonment in case of detention in Chechnya, but it rather helped Umar Salamov, believes Ruslan Kutaev, the president of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations. Refusal of relatives to publicly discuss such incidents also does not guarantee leniency towards a detainee, Ruslan Kutaev adds.

“When people who kidnap other people and torture them are afraid of public reaction, when they have fears that they will not get away with that, then public discussions may have a positive impact on the situation,” the president of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations noted.

An employee of the “Memorial” Centre for Defence of Human Rights who preferred to remain anonymous does not think that the fame helped the boxer. However, the human rights defender believes that public discussions of such incidents are important because they may reduce the number of kidnappings and torture.