Lawyer explains background of activist Yangulbaev's detention

The search and detention of Abubakar Yangulbaev, an employee of the "Committee against Torture" (CaT), for interrogation as a witness fit into the framework of a criminal investigation and do not mean that investigators have claims against him, Timofei Shirokov, a lawyer, has explained.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 28, in Pyatigorsk, the home of Abubakar Yangulbaev, a lawyer of the North-Caucasian branch of the CaT, was searched. Then, Yangulbaev was taken to the police, where he was interrogated as a witness in the case of justifying terrorism due to his publication on the "1Adat" Telegram channel*; they also took his explanations about the denunciation claiming that Yangulbaev had moderated the channel or wrote texts for it. After that, Yangulbaev was released. He refuted the information about his involvement in the above Telegram channel, which is oppositional to Chechen authorities.

Timofei Shirokov has explained that in order to conduct a search of one's home, a person should not have the status of a suspect or a defendant. In Timofei's opinion, law enforcers "probably had no reason to detain" Yangulbaev, since the case, most likely, had been initiated not against him.

A similar opinion was expressed by Magomed Alamov, the head of the North-Caucasian branch of the CaT. "Perhaps he was interrogated 'just in case', since he is [Ibragim Yangulbaev's] brother," Mr Alamov has suggested.

During the interrogation, he was questioned, among other things, "about the '1Adat', the CaT, Elena Milashina, a 'Novaya Gazeta' correspondent, and others," Magomed Alamov has added.

Let us remind you that on December 25, 2021, Abubakar Yangulbaev reported about the kidnapping of 37 of his relatives living in Chechnya. Some of them returned home the next day. On December 22-24, the Kadyrov's critics, Tumso Abdurakhmanov, Minkail Malizaev and Khasan Khalitov, also reported about kidnappings of their relatives living in Chechnya.