BASAYEV'S WIDOW ABDUCTED

C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 009356 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/24/2016 TAGS: PHUM PGOV PTER PINR RS SUBJECT: BASAYEV'S WIDOW ABDUCTED Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Alice Wells. Reasons 1.4 (b and d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: The abduction of a female journalist in Chechnya that prompted public appeals from human rights groups could have consequences for the Chechen newspaper that employed her as a stringer and the groups seeking her release, following the revelation that she is Shamil Basayev's widow. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) On August 17, Elina Ersenoyeva was abducted in Groznyy by men believed to belong to either Russian or Chechen security forces. According to Ersenoyeva's aunt, who was taken with her but later released, the two had bags placed over their heads, were put in separate cars, and taken to a basement. After about two hours, the aunt was released. She told human rights activists that she did not know what happened to Ersonoyeva. Two days prior to the abduction, Ersenoyeva had written to the Demos Center and the International Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights complaining that she and her family were being "persecuted" by members of the Chechen paramilitary loyal to Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov. Ersenoyeva attributed the pressure to the fact she had married a rebel fighter in November 2005. ¶3. (C) Demos Center Director Tanya Lokshina and other human rights organizations on August 18 released public appeals for Ersenoyeva's release, describing her as a journalist and civic activist based on her work with the independent Chechen newspaper Chechen Society and an AIDs prevention group known as INFO-MOST. On August 24, Lokshina said she learned from Ersenoyeva's family that the fighter Ersenoyeva married was Basayev. The family maintained that the marriage had been forced upon Ersenoyeva, a claim that Lokshina takes with a grain of salt but believes is credible. The family said Ersenoyeva had been approached by the wife of Chechen "President" Abdul Khalim Saidullayev, a distant relative, who told Ersenoyeva that a groom had been found for her. Lokshina said the family believed that had Ersenoyeva refused, they would have been targeted by the rebels. The family told Lokshina that Ersenoyeva had spent six weeks with Basayev. ¶4. (C) Lokshina is concerned that for human rights organizations who publicized the case, and for Timur Aliev, the editor of Chechen Society as her employer, there was a danger that they would now be seen by security services as supporters of the rebels. Lokshina said any denials they had not known Ersenoyeva's connection to Basayev would be met by authorities with skepticism at a minimum, and in Aliev's case, as an outright lie because he worked in the North Caucasus. While it was too early to know, she said, authorities could use the Ersenoyev case to connect her, Aliev, and others to Basayev -- no matter how tenuous the connection -- and use it against them. ¶5. (C) COMMENT: Lokshina and other prominent human rights groups that have criticized abuses in Chechnya have generally been scrupulous in avoiding any appearance of supporting terrorists like Basayev. Likewise, Aliev, who has won numerous awards for his work in the North Caucasus, is a highly regarded independent journalist. Their criticisms of the GOR and its Chechen allies have not been well received by the authorities, but they have continued to work without too much interference. This inadvertent linkage to Basayev will raise their profile and potential vulnerability. BURNS