Chechnya: Body of teenager displayed publicly after attack on Russian police

The body of a teenager was publicly displayed in the central square of Achkhoy-Martan, Chechnya. Residents captured footage of the scene and provided it to the opposition group NIYSO, which published it on their Telegram channel. Opponents have denounced this unprecedented act as a grave escalation in the repressive measures employed by Ramzan Kadyrov's regime.

Two videos surfaced on the Telegram channel of the opposition group NIYSO in the evening of April 9, showing a scene in Achkhoy-Martan, where the body of a young man was publicly displayed.

The first video – a 16-second clip – was filmed in front of the local administration building and shows a crowd of about a hundred people, predominantly men. At their feet lies the body of a young man. People are crying, a woman is blowing her nose. The body is positioned face down on the pavement, a few metres away.

Due to the graphic nature of the content, our team has opted to present only a screenshot of the video.

The second video, which was filmed at a different location, shows the same body lying in the middle of a busy street. Many cars can be seen driving around it. The man who is filming says: “He is lying here, they left him here.” The body was moved by a dozen meters.

Several sources have identified the teenager as 17-year-old Eskerkhan Khumashev. He is accused of attacking two Russian police officers on April 7 in downtown Achkhoy-Martan. Our team was unable to independently verify the motive and circumstances of this attack filmed by a surveillance camera. Eskerkhan Khumashev was then killed by one of the two police officers. The opposition group NIYSO alleges that his body was then left in the street at the attack site, without medical assistance.

Local media reported that one of the two police officers, Ramzan Dubaev, died from his injuries. The following day, the teenager's body was publicly displayed on the town’s central square. Videos filmed by the residents show his body surrounded by passers-by.
‘Displaying the body of a teenager so openly has never happened before’

NIYSO is a politico-religious movement founded in 2022 by the Chechen diaspora that aims to “disoccupy” Chechnya through resistance to the head of the republic Ramzan Kadyrov's regime and Russian authorities. M., a member of the group currently in exile who requested anonymity, said:

Body display is a practice used by the Russian army in Chechnya since the early 2000s. They humiliated and demonstrated dead bodies of killed resistance fighters (before) but to do it so openly with the body of a teenager, this has never happened before.

NIYSO received testimonies from town residents. The group stated, “teachers, high school and university students, and local employees were ordered to attend (the public display). Classes were cancelled to ensure full participation.”
‘People are forced to go to the location, sometimes under threat of sanctions’

Loujaine Laamal is a PhD student at the Free University of Brussels (ULB) and a specialist in the Chechen diaspora in Europe, as well as in political and military opposition to Kadyrov.

Since Ramzan Kadyrov came to power [Editor’s note: in March 2007], this is the first time that a killed teenager has been publicly displayed. This type of staging has never occurred before, even though public humiliations are not new in Chechnya. Until now, they more often took the form of forced appearances on television, where people had to publicly recant statements they had made on social media. More recently, physical violence has been shared on Telegram by members of the regime.

The choice of location for the body's display is not insignificant; it is the main square of the city, in front of an administrative building with a huge portrait of Kadyrov in the background. It is a very symbolic staging, a way to reiterate the regime's omnipotence.

These gatherings are organised in a very controlled manner. Universities and schools close, students are informed that there will be no classes, without explanation. They are forced to go to the location, sometimes under threat of sanctions such as failing a year or dismissal. Many do not even know why they are there.

'The aim is to bring shame upon his relatives, to inflict a form of social death upon them'

It's also necessary to understand this staging within the Chechen context, where public humiliation is a weapon of control deeply ingrained in the local culture. Here, there is a double humiliation: religious and cultural. Religious, first, because in Islam, which is the majority religion in Chechnya, the body of the deceased must be buried quickly and with respect. Leaving the corpse exposed in broad daylight, without burial, is a direct violation of these principles.

It is also a cultural humiliation, linked to the notion of honor. By making public the identity of the young man killed, the authorities are not only targeting him but his entire clan, his entire family. The aim is to bring shame upon his relatives, to inflict a form of social death upon them. The objective is clear: to deter any act of protest by instilling fear of reprisals that would affect far beyond the individual.

In February, Achkhoy-Martan was the target of kidnappings and crackdowns following the burning of a Russian flag. According to NIYSO, children and teenagers were arrested, beaten, and humiliated. Khumashov might have been one of the victims of this crackdown, NIYSO says.

'Kadyrov is starting to fear a rising popular anger'

Laamal says Kadyrov aims to brutally reassert his control over the Chechen population by strengthening a climate of generalised terror:

There's a kind of turning point, as if Kadyrov has been caught off guard recently. There have been several attacks on Chechen soil, notably by Ukrainian drones, but also militant actions – flags burned, that sort of thing.

These actions are increasing. There are more and more signs of discontent, and Kadyrov is starting to fear a rising popular anger. This anger is notably linked to the forced sending of Chechens to the front in Ukraine.

Relatives kidnapped

The day after the knife attack, Kadyrov held a press conference and issued a statement on his Telegram channel. He ordered the arrest of all the teenagers’ relatives. According to NIYSO, six members of his family have been arrested.

On April 8, just the day after the knife attack, the group said on its Telegram channel that two relatives of Eskerkhan Khumashev’s family had been kidnapped and that his father had suffered several broken bones. The FRANCE 24 Observers team was unable to independently verify this information.

Chechen authorities did not just target the young man’s family. Ramza Kadyrov also accused NIYSO of being behind this attack, claiming that its members were inciting young people to commit violence. The opposition group denied these accusations.
‘People are afraid to write to us’

Since these accusations have been made, NIYSO members say several of their relatives have been kidnapped. M. told our team:

They have already been kidnapped. We do not know where they are now. The situation in Chechnya is very harsh. People get tortured when Russian forces find even a “like” or subscription to our channel, let alone contacting us. So it's really a huge risk for people. Because of total censorship and repression, people are afraid to write to us. Most often we don't learn about crimes through family members. They generally oppose publicity, because they are afraid that the situation will get worse.

‘People merely suspected of opposition have been arrested and then directly sent to Ukraine’

Laamal says the crackdown has intensified since the war in Ukraine began:

According to various opponents and several Chechens who have managed to flee, there are underground prisons, often set up beneath official buildings, such as police stations. Several testimonies describe atrocious detention conditions. Detainees are tortured, some die, others are killed, and some are occasionally released. It is at that moment that they try to flee, if they still have their documents – but in the majority of cases, they have been confiscated.

And for men, the threat looming today is being forcibly sent to Ukraine. Recently, people merely suspected of opposition have been arrested and then directly sent to the front.

https://observers.france24.com/en/eu...kadyrov-regime

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