11 October 2011, Tuesday / TODAY’S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL
| With the murder of three Chechens in İstanbul in September still on people’s minds, an attempt to assassinate another Chechen leader on Oct. 7 was made but prevented by his guards, who captured the suspect. On Tuesday, the Sabah daily reported that the suspect had been found to be in possession of a list of the names of planned future victims. | |
| An attempt was made to kill Shemsettin Batukaev, former shaykh al-Islam of Chechnya, in his home in İstanbul’s Zeytinburnu district on Friday. Batukaev held a press conference with Murat Özer, head of the Association for Solidarity and Defense of Humanity (İMKANDER), at the Eresin Hotel in İstanbul’s Topkapı neighborhood, in which he said that Barhram Batumaev, a Chechen citizen, came to his house on Oct. 7. Batukaev had never met Batumaev before. At one point Batumaev went to the bathroom, but stayed there for so long that Batukaev’s guards became suspicious. When he came out, the guards saw he was carrying a gun at his waist. After capturing him, the guards found the gun had been equipped with a silencer. Batukaev claimed to have been named on a Russian hit list.
In response to the incident, İMKANDER’s Özer said the Turkish government must protect the Chechen community in Turkey. Police found a spare ammunition magazine, bullets, an assassination plan and a copy of the layout of the Batukaev’s apartment at the hotel in Zeytinburnu where the suspect was staying. Police also found a list of what are presumably the suspect’s planned future hits in the hotel room. According to Sabah daily, Vaha Umarov, the brother of Dokko Umarov, the president of the unrecognized Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI), who resides in İstanbul, also appears on the list. The evidence collected was sent to İstanbul’s forensic laboratory for further examination. The gun found on Batumaev was a Russian-made Stechkin. According to police, the nine-millimeter gun was produced for USSR military personnel during the early days of the Cold War. Bülent Demir, Batukaev’s lawyer, stated that the Stechkin is a weapon now used primarily by Russian special forces, not by ordinary police or army officers. “This weapon is only available to a few people in Russia. The magazine capacity of the weapon is 20 rounds. And this semiautomatic weapon has now been found in he hands of this suspect,” he said. In a statement to police, Batumaev said he was hired to kill Batukaev by Uvays Ahmadov, who lives in İstanbul’s Başakşehir district. Batumaev was detained after questioning. Police also took Ahmadov in for questioning at İstanbul’s Gayrettepe Police Department; he and five others have been detained by the police in connection with the case. Chechnya’s Moscow-backed strongman Ramzan Kadyrov has relied on ruthless tactics in fighting an Islamic insurgency following two separatist wars. Rights activists accuse his black-clad security forces of systematic abductions, torture and extrajudicial killings. Chechens Berg Khazh Musavei, Rustam Altemirol and Zarvbek Amriev were killed in front of their homes in İstanbul’s Zeytinburnu district on Sept. 16, when 11 bullets were fired from a pistol fitted with a silencer. Chechens marched on İstiklal Avenue in late September to protest recent killings. |
