More than 100 people held protests in Belgium and Austria demanding the release of a Chechen refugee

In Brussels, near the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and in Vienna, near the Belgian Embassy, rallies were held in support of Islam Albakov, a native of Chechnya. He has been held in a Belgian deportation center since 2019 - Russia is seeking his extradition on charges of participation in an illegal armed group.

In Brussels, about 40 members of the Chechen diaspora submitted an appeal to a police representative. In Vienna, Chechens and Ukrainian refugees also asked to release Albakov and not hand him over to the Russian authorities.

Recently, the head of the human rights organization “Women of the World for Peace on Earth,” Fatima Gazieva, reported that 39-year-old Islam Albakov’s health was deteriorating and his vision had become much worse.

In 2018, Islam and his brother Imran proved in a Belgian court that the charges brought against them by Russia were fabricated. However, the first of them was soon arrested, and the second is at large in France.

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