An indictment against eight Russian nationals is asking for prison terms of up to 33 years for suspects accused of attempting to assassinate Chechen dissidents in Turkey. The suspects were captured in an operation by the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) in Istanbul last October.
A 25-page indictment by the counterterrorism bureau of the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office is now awaiting approval by the High Criminal Court. The prison terms are related to charges of political or military espionage, violation of the firearms laws and forgery of official documents.
The suspects are accused of a plot to assassinate a Chechen dissident, code-named "Abdulhakim," who lives in Turkey. They allegedly acted upon the orders of Adam Delimkhanov, a lawmaker from Russia's State Duma and a cousin of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, and Kazbek Dukuzov.
B.R. is the prime suspect in the case and is accused of running the network of spies working for Delimkhanov. Delimkhanov’s name was associated with assassinations targeting Chechen dissidents Umar Israilov and Sulim Yamadaev in 2009 in Vienna and Dubai, with Interpol issuing an arrest warrant for the lawmaker following the murder of Yamadaev in Dubai.
The indictment says Dukuzov acted as “contractor” for Delimkhanov, recruiting people to assassinate Chechen dissidents. Dukuzov was the alleged mastermind of a string of murders, from the 2004 assassination of U.S. journalist Paul Klebnikov to former Chechen Deputy Prime Minister Yan Sergunin who was killed same year, as well as the 2020 murder of Chechen dissident Mamikhan Umarov and attempted murder targeting Georgian journalist Giorgi Gabunia.
Chechen dissidents in Turkey, who have been targets of similar assassination attempts in the past, had set up a Telegram channel to communicate with each other against possible suspects sent to eliminate them. The channel was also monitored by MIT, which also launched surveillance on B.R., a name deciphered by the dissidents.
The indictment says a search of the suspects’ residence found three pistols, a silencer, a large cache of ammunition, as well as license plates. One of the pistols was found in a secret section of a suspect’s residence. The indictment also says that the suspects acquired guns from A.A., a suspect convicted of Daesh membership and involved in arms smuggling.
A search of digital evidence obtained from the suspects also revealed that they had a large number of photos of Chechen dissidents secretly taken by suspects, along with passport information. The indictment says the suspects were “planning to convey the information they gathered to a foreign state or intelligence service.”
