Tumso Abdurakhmanov, a Chechen blogger who lives in Sweden and is opposed to Ramzan Kadyrov cannot be reached and is out of touch, says Vayfond, a Chechen human rights group based in the country.
“We wish to note that we, just like all of you, know nothing of the situation. Our representative Mohmad Abdurakhmanov, Tumso’s brother, is also unexpectedly and without explanation no longer available,” reads the statement.
The association is certain that the two have become out of touch “for a valid reason”.
Abdurakhmanov used to work as a top manager at a state enterprise in Russia’s republic of Chechnya, but left the republic in 2015 after illegal detention and a conflict with Islam Kadyrov, a relative of Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Chechnya. In exile, he set up a YouTube channel where he criticised the leaders of the Chechen Republic. In particular, in March 2019, Abdurakhmanov posted a video in which he called the first president of Chechnya, Akhmat Kadyrov, a “traitor” to the Chechen people. Over time, his channel became the most popular in Chechnya.
An unknown individual broke into Abdurakhmanov’s Swedish apartment in February 2020 and hit him several times with a hammer in his sleep. The blogger managed to disarm the attacker and called the police. A Swedish court later found two Russian nationals guilty of attempted assassination and sentenced them to 8 and 12 years in prison.
