IHF expresses deep concern for safety of abducted human rights lawyer

The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) expresses its deep concern for the fate and whereabouts of Makhmut Magomadov who was detained by a group of camouflaged gunmen in Grozny on 20 January.

Magomadov was travelling with his family in the Staropromyslovsky district of Grozny when at approximately 18:30 they were approached by a group of armed men, speaking Chechen and dressed in military uniforms. These men grabbed Magomadov and drove away in the direction of the city centre. His wife and other witnesses suspect the men belong to the presidential security service, the so-called Kadyrovtsy, under the command of Chechen deputy prime-minister Ramzan Kadyrov. These units are implicated in literally dozens of cases of 'disappearances', torture and ill-treatment and extra-judicial execution.

"We are deeply concerned for the fate and whereabouts of Makhmut Magomadov", stated Aaron Rhodes, Executive Director of the IHF. "We fear he will be subjected to torture or ill-treatment and may be executed like so many of the 'disappeared' in Chechnya", he added.

The organisation suspects Magomadov was targeted due to his work in compiling applications from the victims of human rights abuses for submission to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Until December 2004, Magomadov worked as an expert in the IHF project, The Legal Protection of Individual Rights in the Russian Federation, aimed a training Russian lawyers and human rights activists in the use of international law. At the time of his detention, he was working on over 30 cases, mainly concerning 'disappearances', torture and ill-treatment, and extra-judicial executions committed by Russian security forces.

The IHF urges the Russian authorities publicly to confirm the fate and whereabouts of Makhmut Magomadov. If he is in custody, the IHF calls on the Russian authorities either to charge him with a recognisable offence or release him immediately.