On May 23, a court in Grozny for the third time refused to recognize Salman Tepsurkaev’s widow Elizaveta B. as a victim in a criminal case in connection with his abduction. The investigation into his case has been suspended.
19-year-old Salman Tepsurkaev, a chat moderator for the opposition telegram channel 1ADAT, was kidnapped by security forces from Chechnya in Gelendzhik on September 6, 2020. The next day, a video of Salman self-tormenting appeared on social networks.
In October 2021, the European Court of Human Rights found the Russian authorities responsible for the disappearance and torture of Chechen native Salman Tepsurkaev and ordered him to pay him compensation of 26 thousand euros. In its decision, the ECHR cited a violation of the Human Rights Convention, in particular the prohibition of torture and the rights to liberty and security.
Two years after Tepsurkaev’s disappearance, the Team Against Torture reported his death. Later, the head of the 1ADAT channel, Ibragim Yangulbaev, told the monstrous details of his murder: “Salman was killed on September 15, 2020 at a military training ground in the village of Dzhalka, this is the ancestral village of Adam Delimkhanov. Salman was tied up, a grenade was inserted into his mouth and he was blown up from a distance... But this was not enough for Kadyrov’s vile criminals. They gave the body to relatives and told them to “bury him like a dog. Salman’s body was buried in an unmarked grave,” the activist claimed.
The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW), in its report on the human rights situation in the world in 2022, called Salman Tepsurkayev a victim of extrajudicial execution and noted that “the authorities have not opened an investigation into his disappearance or alleged torture and murder.”
Tepsurkaev's father was forced to renounce his son. Wife Elizaveta B., with the help of human rights activists from the “Team Against Torture,” collected all the evidence of the abduction for the investigation: video recording from the crime scene, car number, identity of the kidnappers. The geolocation of the husband's phone indicated that the day after the abduction he was on the territory of the Kadyrov special police regiment in Grozny.
After four decisions to refuse to initiate a criminal case, the materials were transferred to the place of the abduction - to the Krasnodar Territory. A criminal case was nevertheless opened there. However, Elizabeth was not recognized as a victim on the grounds that their marriage took place in a mosque and not in a registry office.
The woman is currently trying to obtain this status through the court in order to have access to the investigation and materials of the criminal case. The courts of first instance in Grozny have already rejected her three times. The first two decisions were overturned by the Supreme Court of the Republic as unfounded.
In January, at a meeting of the Supreme Court of Chechnya, it became known that the investigation into the criminal case of Tepsurkaev’s kidnapping had been suspended. The investigation allegedly carried out all the necessary investigative measures, but was unable to identify those involved in the abduction.