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Tortured and Killed in Russia After Being Refused Asylum in Norway

In the article by the investigative journalist Øystein Windstad, Norwegian newspaper Ny Tid wrote that one of the asylum seekers has been tortured and killed in Chechnya, while the other asylum seeker was reportedly tortured with electric cables before he was later found dead in a car. Both of them were recently sent from Norway as the Norwegian authorities believed they lied about the danger of their life. 

Both the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC) and the Russian human rights organization Memorial warned Norwegian authorities, according to the newspaper, strongly against sending them back to Russia and Chechnya. While the organizations argued the asylum seekers Apti Nazjujev and Umar Bilemkhanov would be persecuted by the Russian and Chechen authorities, the authorities in Norway believed that they were safe. 

Tortured and Found in a Car

The newspaper wrote that Umar Bilemkhanov was sent to Moscow in December 2011, and was picked at the airport by Russian intelligence and later forcibly sent to Chechnya, according to a report by Memorial. 

When he returned to his hometown, he reportedly found his father beaten to death by police. Furthermore, Bilemkhanov was arrested and tortured with electrical cables. He was found dead on 26 December 2012. Chechen authorities claimed that he died in a car accident. On the other hand, Memorial and the Helsinki Committee believe that it was a politically motivated murder, and pointed out that there was no damage to the car where Bilemkhanov was found dead. 

A decayed and tortured body found in a river

The other asylum seeker, Apti Nazjujev had actively participated in the resistance against the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov before he came to Norway and applied for asylum in 2008. Despite the warnings from Norwegian Immigration Appeals Board (UNE), he was sent out of Norway in late 2011. On 18 May 2013 he was reported missing by his family. On 10 June, 2013, Apti Nazjujev was found tortured, killed and dumped in a river in Kali municipality in Chechnya.

NY TID has disclosed Nazjujev’s autopsy report showing that he was found with drawn teeth and nails, broken skull, broken kneecap and deep puncture wounds. He died as a result of torture. 

Again Memorial, the Chechen exile politican Akhmed Zakajev and Helsinki Committee all aggree that this was a politically motivated killings by Chechen authorities, reports Ny TID.

 

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