Tumso Abdurahmanov, a reputed blogger and critic of Chechnya’s strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, survived an assassination attempt, Chechen human rights organisation Vayfond reports.
According to the human rights watchdog, an unindentified attacker entered Abdurakhmanov’s dwelling and tried to hit the sleeping host with a hammer. The Chechen blogger managed to disarm the intruder and called the police. Now Abdurakhmanov, who got a blow in the head, is in hospital. However, the attacker’s location is yet unknown.
The Telegram channel FTP posted a video that features Abdurakhmanov talking to the would-have-been hitman. The latter introduced himself with the name ‘Ruslan’ and claimed he had been sent by ‘Abdurakhman from Grozny’. When asked from whom he had learnt the address of the blogger, ‘Ruslan’ said: “They told me.” He also states he only wanted to scare Tumso Abdurakhmanov, not to murder him.
It is more than likely that the assault took place in Poland where Abdurakhmanov is seeking political asylum.
(UPD) On February 29, Stanisław Żaryn, Spokesperson for Poland’s Minister-Special Services Coordinator, said on Twitter that Tumso Abdurakhmanov had been staying outside Poland since December, 2018.
In 2015, Tumso Abdurakhmanov left Chechnya in the wake of his conflict with the relatives of Ramzan Kadyrov. The authorities accused him of being linked to the so called Islamic state. Living abroad, Abdurakhmanov keeps criticising Kadyrov and Chechen authorities on the YouTube channel that has nearly 260,000 subscribers. In 2019, Chechen parliamentary speaker Magomed Daudov declared a private war on the blogger over his calling the first Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov a traitor.
