Failed To Kill 'Enemies Of The State', Russia's 'hijackers' Over Chechen Leader Ramzan Kadyrov On Trial In Germany

Ramzan Kadyrov. (Wikimedia Commons/Press Service of the President of the Russian Federation)

JAKARTA - A Russian national was tried in Munich, Germany on Wednesday on charges of agreeing to carry out the contract killings of a Chechen dissident on behalf of people linked to Ramzan Kadyrov, the powerful ruler of Russia's Chechen autonomous region.

German prosecutors believe the thwarted killing was meant to scare into silence the victim's 27-year-old brother, another activist for Chechen independence living in exile in Stockholm, Sweden.

"To the Chechen government, the victim in question and his brother are enemies of the state," said Frank Stuppi of the federal prosecutor's office outside the courthouse, citing Reuters, June 16.

Prosecutors said a member of Kadyrov's security forces contracted defendant Valid D, for murder in the first half of 2020.

They said he agreed to the plan, obtained a handgun with ammunition and silencers, then explored the area where the victim was living.

"Thanks to information to the police, the suspect can be arrested and the crime can be prevented," said Stuppi.

Valid D., whose full name has been withheld from publication under Germany's privacy law, denies the prosecutor's accusations, his defense attorney was quoted by Der Spiegel magazine as saying.

Earlier this year, German media reported that the intended victim was Mokhmad Abdurakhmanov, whose own brother Tumso was the target of an assassination attempt in February 2020. Mokhmad was an outspoken critic of Kadyrov.

“No honorable Chechen will enter Ukrainian territory with gun in hand to fight for the interests of the Russian Federation and its President Vladimir Putin,” he said in a recent YouTube video, according to public broadcaster BR, a reference to the Chechens fighting on the side of the Russian troops that invaded Ukraine in February.

The trial, which will run until December, will highlight the activities of Russian agents in Germany and Europe more broadly, including hitmen from Chechnya, a region where Kadyrov has been granted liberties by Moscow.

Last year, a Russian was convicted of the 2019 murder of Chechen-born Georgian citizen Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in broad daylight in a central Berlin park. Russian citizen Vadim Krasikov was sent to life in prison for the murder.