Russian Authorities Must Investigate the Abduction and Torture of Young Chechen Man

On 7 September, a video was circulated on social media depicting the torture of Salman Tepsurkaev, a 19-year-old man from Chechnya. He is still missing. Civil Rights Defenders and several Russian and international human rights organisations now urge the Russian authorities to immediately determine his whereabouts and punish those guilty of the violence against him. 

Salman Tepsurkaev is the moderator of a channel on the messaging app Telegram that publishes critical information about developments in Chechnya. He was abducted from a hotel in Gelendzhik in Russia’s Krasnodar region and taken to Chechnya. He was then stripped naked and forced, on camera, to penetrate himself with a glass bottle. Subsequently, Chechen government officials publicly endorsed the violence committed against Tepsurkaev.  

In a joint statement, Civil Rights Defenders and several Russian and international human rights organisations now urge the Russian authorities to respond to his case. Read our statement for more information about our demands.