Chechen leader humiliates mother whose daughter died in suspected lockdown domestic abuse

Four-year-old daughter of 23-year-old woman who died says she was strangled and hurled down stairs

Ramzan Kadyrov brushed off accusations after Madina Umaeva, 23, died under suspicious circumstances (AP)

The Chechen leader has publicly humiliated the mother of a young woman who was killed in a suspected domestic violence incident during the coronavirus crisis.

Ramzan Kadyrov brushed off beatings as something that “can happen” in a marriage and urged the victim’s mother to provide witnesses to prove she had been killed.

Madina Umayeva died in the war-ravaged Islamic republic on Russia’s southern border under suspicious circumstances earlier this month.

Neighbours of the 23-year-old, who married her husband at the age of 16, say they heard screams coming from her house on the day she died, and saw her lying near the stairs.

Ms Umayeva, a mother-of-three, was buried by the family in the middle of the night that same day despite the Muslim tradition of not burying the dead after sunset.

(Grozny (Grozny)

While her in-laws say she had died after falling down the stairs while having an epileptic seizure, her mother says she did not suffer from epilepsy.

Her cousin told a local news site called Caucasian Knot that the young woman described her husband as becoming “unruly, crazed like an animal” during beatings and that she had tried to end the relationship on a number of occasions.

Ms Umayeva’s mother told the media outlet her daughter came to see her after a fight with her husband several days before she died.

“She returned with black knees, they beat her with a belt,” Ms Umayeva’s mother said. “I asked my girl: ‘Will you go back?’ She said that she didn’t want to.”

And Ms Umayeva’s aunt said the victim’s four-year-old daughter said her mother was strangled and hurled down the stairs.

Rumours that Ms Umayeva’s husband, Viskhadzhi Khamidov, had killed her started spreading on WhatsApp – with public outrage over the death prompting the local prosecutor’s office to launch an inquest and to order her body to be exhumed.

The Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has now accused Ms Umayeva’s mother of disseminating gossip about the death of her daughter during a meeting with her earlier in the week shown on official TV channel Kadyrov.

Mr Kadyrov, who is allegedly responsible for the killings of several leading critics, said that despite the fact the inquest’s results have yet to be released, it demonstrates there is no evidence a violent death occurred.

The Chechen leader, who has been credibly linked to the abduction, torture and murder of LGBT+ people in the Chechen republic, voiced anger she had been dug up and said it contradicted Islam and public agencies’ attempt to make sure that “when Chechens die, there is no autopsy”.

“Sometimes there are arguments and fights, and sometimes the husband uses his fists,” Mr Kadyrov said.

In Russia, a traditional saying goes: “If he beats you, it means he loves you”. The Russian parliament implemented fiercely criticised legislative amendments in February 2017 that decriminalised first battery offences among family members – marking a setback that decreased punishments for abusers and put victims even more at risk.

Ms Umayeva’s mother looked visibly scared on camera as she said sorry to Mr Kadyrov.

She said: “I apologise for having listened to rumours. I apologise to [you].”

Ms Umayeva’s husband, who lives in Gudermes, which is near to the republic’s capital Grozny, insisted during a recent TV interview that he was not at home when his wife died.

Tanya Lokshina, associate director of Europe and Central Asia Division of Human Rights Watch, said: “Public humiliation of people who speak out isn’t new in Chechnya, but these circumstances were especially egregious. And they will block badly needed justice for a victim of domestic violence and reinforce a dangerous message that those seeking redress for abuse should stay silent. Russian authorities have an obligation to ensure women are safe from violence, including in their homes.”

She added: “Chechen traditional laws, often upheld by local authorities even when contravening Russia’s laws and international human rights standards, stipulate that children belong with the father and his family. This often dissuades women from fleeing abusive marriages.”