Chechens, who are in opposition to Ramzan Kadyrov, are threatened by Chechens in Germany. These are then either loyalists of Republic chief Kadyrov or Chechens, who are forced by extortion to do something to their compatriots.

Sarah Reinke from the NGO GfbV has over the years reported on the practice of public apology/humiliation in Chechnya, including the case of Aishat Inaev, Isa Achyadov and Adam Dikayev. Meanwhile, this practice is used even within Germany as the fate of Movsar Eskarkhanov and Minkail Malizaev show, a central role in both cases play the correspondent of Grozny TV Beslan Dadaev.

Movsar was already pushed as a small child in the role of the outsider because he is born illegitimately but this was only a foretaste of what was to follow. His «coming out» in 2011 was highly involuntary. »An acquaintance with whom I had written only online turned out to be a police officer. They came, arrested and blackmailed me with photos they wanted to put online. I should pay them 200,000 rubles. But for what? I had no relationship with anyone, there was nothing to intimate. I gave them 10,000 rubles and my phone, but that was not enough, so they put the video on Youtube.«

But even after his escape to Germany, he is still threatened by acquaintances from his hometown Achkhoy-Martan and there have been already two attacks on him. The first was an attack with a knife in Eisenhüttenstadt (Brandenburg) and the second one was in his current asylum accommodation.

As if that were not enough for the humiliation, the Beslan Dadaev, correspondent of GroznyTV, paid him a visit in acquaintances and urged him to an apology in front of the camera. »It had been Western journalists who had drugged him and misled him to critical statements against Kadyrov … His own mental illness would be the reason that he speaks badly about Kadyrov.»

Movsar Eskarkhanov fled to Germany, unaware of what awaited him here. «The years 2014 and 2015 were hell. Had I known that, I would not have come to Germany. If my asylum application is rejected, I go to Holland or even further away, because these constant threats here, on the phone or on the Internet, these dirty things are unbearable.» However, his first asylum application was rejected in 2016.

For Minkail Malizaev the case is entirely different and yet he must fear for his live. He had repeatedly encouraged the diaspora in Germany to publicly criticize Ramzan Kadyrov and organize demonstrations against human rights abuses in Chechnya within the EU. On April 26, his wife and three children have been forcibly returned to Chechnya and a little bit later Minkail Malizaev received a visit by the correspondent of GroznyTV due to his critical remarks about Ramzan Kadyrov. Beslan Dadaev threatened him that his relatives at home would be responsible for his words, if he did not apologize.

Fearing that his deported family will be harmed, he agreed to the offer and apologized. But this did not satisfy the visitors Dadaev Beslan and Mairbek Kusuev and they demanded a video recording – Malizaev refused and was then beaten so severely that he had to be treated for several days in the hospital in Lüdenscheid (North Rhine-Westphalia).

In the conversation with Khusein Ishkanov Malizaev said he was made to understand clearly that he should not feel too safe in Germany. »If necessary, we will kill you here. We were told to finish you. Here in Germany, in Europe, the prisons are good. If we kill you now, we’ll live well in jail, and once the term is over, we will go home as free men. This is not at all a problem for us, we have nothing to lose. For us the main thing is to remove you.»

In the only article in German about this case by Bernhard Clasen, Malizaev said that he often receives phone calls from Chechens living and threatening to kill his wife and children in Chechnya, if he does not apologize to the head of the Republic Kadyrov for his criticism. On April 28, Malizaev had been so badly beaten by compatriots that he had to be treated for several days in a hospital. Currently, Malizaev, whose asylum application has been rejected, is not being deported for medical reasons. He practically lives on the street, sometimes he can stay with friends, but he is on the run from those who threaten him. »I’m afraid that they’ll murder me before I’m deported,« he says. Minkail had at the beginning of the year called upon Chechens, who are living in Europe, to demonstrate against the head of the Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov. Already two years ago Malizaev had aroused the wrath of the rulers in Chechnya with public posts against the regime. Russian human rights activist Ekaterina Sokirianskaia believes that Malizaev’s fears may come true. That he will be murdered after his deportation. But even if he survives, one thing is certain: »They will make him a chum chop, as they say in the Russian prison language.«