‘I will soon go to Ukraine’: Chechen Idris Arsamikov who vanished after police detention in Moscow airport posts video address

Idris Arsamikov, a Chechen man who fled Russia due to persecution over his homosexuality and who was detained on 16 February in Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport, has published a video address on his VK, Russian social media platform, page.

“I am now in Chechnya, in my home. I am alive and well. <…> I wasn’t even touched with a finger <…> I ask you, LGBT-ers, to leave me alone with your attempts to protect my rights. Chechnya values my rights and respects me as a human being. <…> I am patriotic just like my two brothers who are serving in Ukraine. I will soon get my health right and will probably soon go to Ukraine,” he said.

At the end of the address, the man showed his uncle and mother. “They are also unhappy because these insults of our family are put on social media. <…> I am a real man and will soon get married, just relax,” Arsamikov added.

Earlier today, SK SOS crisis group reported that Arsamikov’s lawyers were not allowed to enter a Chechnya police station, while officers also refused to share where their client was held.

Earlier, the human rights activists said that Arsamikov was earlier tortured by the police and is facing grave danger in Chechnya.

The police detained Arsamikov, 28, in Domodedovo Airport early on 16 February. The Chechen man travelled to Russia from the Netherlands to attend his father’s funeral. According to the man, police officers told him that Chechen law enforcement agents had been dispatched to fetch him, adding that his detention was linked to “certain issues” in the Russian region. Arsamikov himself explained that he is being persecuted for his homosexuality. Activists claim that Arsamikov can be charged with large-scale fraud. The criminal case was launched in December 2021 when the Chechen man was in the Netherlands, SK SOS reports.