03 November 2022, 17:36
Chechen female activist released after questioning
Gistam Sakaeva, a native of Chechnya, is at large, as the police released her after questioning.
The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that Gistam Sakaeva, who is engaged in the activities to protect women’s rights, disappeared at the border with Kazakhstan in the Astrakhan Region on the night of November 1. Gistam Sakaeva managed to inform her friend that border guards had seized her passport at the checkpoint. According to the activist’s friend, a district police inspector was looking for Gistam Sakaeva in Chechnya a week ago.
Gistam Sakaeva was released after questioning, and she is at large now, the human rights project “OVD-Info”* reports with reference to the activist’s friend.
Gistam Sakaeva was a founder of the Chechen charitable organization “Doverie” (Trust), and in 2008, she was awarded the “Voice of Courage” from the NGO “Women’s Commission for Assistance to Children and Refugee Women”. Earlier, Gistam Sakaeva herself suffered from violence in her own family, and during the Chechen wars, she “twice had to leave her home and seek refuge in the neighbouring republics of Ingushetia and Dagestan,” the “Voice of America” reports**.
The Chechen charitable organization “Doverie” was registered in May 2006.
In the social media, Gistam Sakaeva indicated her place of work as the British NCO “Centre for Peace Building and Community Development”, where she is engaged in “building capacity for reconciliation in Northern Caucasus.”
*Included in the register of unregistered public associations, performing the functions of a foreign agent.
**Included in the register of foreign media, performing the functions of a foreign agent.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on November 2, 2022 at 04:18 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Source: Caucasian Knot
