Local sources have reported that a young Chechen athlete was arrested in Moscow after returning from Thailand.

According to the information, on March 27, Rosa Magomedova, a lawyer from the Human Rights Center “Memorial”s legal assistance network “Migration Right”, went to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport to meet her cousin Khasan Edilkhanov, who was coming from Phuket, Thailand. His flight, number SU275 landed at 6:50pm local time. However, Khasan Edilkhanov didn’t appear even though in the morning he had sent a text message to his family that he was boarding the plane.

After 2 hours of waiting, Rosa Magomedova realized that there was something wrong and she went to the border office of the Russian security service FSB. But, they said that all of the passengers came out and asked her to return to the waiting area. At about 10:00pm, Khasan’s uncle Umar Edilkhanov arrived at the airport. Shortly after, two men in civilian clothes approached them and asked whether they are waiting for Khasan Edilkhanov. When the answer was positive, they asked to go one of the rooms in the first floor. FSB agents asked them questions about the religious and political views of Khasan. However, FSB agents said that there was nothing to worry about for him, they just needed to fix a few problems on his passport and he would be released in a short time.

On March 28, it appeared that Khasan Edilkhanov was arrested at the Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow by FSB due to a fabricated charge about his participation in the Chechen National Liberation Movement. He was taken to court at 7:30am without a lawyer. According to the court’s claim, during his interrogation which continued until 3:00am, Khasan confessed his participation in illegal armed organizations. As a result, the court decided to imprison him until May 28 in preparation of a complaint from the Russian Interior Ministry and the Prosecutor’s Office.

Khasan Edilkhanov was born on 09.04.1993. He graduated from a high school in Chechnya, and in 2013, he enrolled in the Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas in Moscow. However, Khasan was very fond of mixed martial arts (MMA), so in a short time, he gave up studying and went to Turkey where his mother lives to participate in MMA training. But, he wasn’t satisfied with the level in Turkey and moved to Thailand to get a better training. On March 27, he was coming back for a short holiday. According to his relatives, he was a child while he was in Chechnya, so it was impossible for him to participate in the war against the Russian invaders. However, what has been happening to him in the last a few days is just another similar example of the fabricated criminal charges against innocent Chechen civilians.

*Text was written by Waynakh Online and edited by Michael Capobianco