THREAT ALLEGEDLY DIRECTED AT SAIDULLAEV

One of the bodyguards of presidential candidate Malik Saidullaev claims that he was kidnapped last month by the Kadyrov administration’s gunmen, who then tortured him until he pretended to agree to murder his own boss. The bodyguard gave a long interview to Anna Politkovskaya, who identified him in the August 28 issue of Novaya gazeta as Ibragim Garsiev of the village of Tangi-Chu.

According to Politkovskaya, Garsiev said that Ramzan Kadyrov personally took part in interrogating and beating him. Two other captives were shot in the legs in his presence; on releasing him his captors threatened to kill him and his family if he did not carry out his assignment of assassinating Saidullaev with a bomb. He told the journalist that he has filed a statement with the federal procuracy and has now hidden himself and his family. “If Kadyrov becomes president, my only choice will be to join the guerrillas and fight him,” he said.