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MMA Champion Amriev is taken to Chechnya

Murad Amriev Vasil Staretsky / YouTube

World MMA champion Murad Amriev is forcefully detained and taken to Chechnya over the case of blood feud between Chechen officials and one of the members of his family, reports Russian news site Mediazona. 

Amriev was charged with document forgery in 2013 and the case was closed less than a year later with the alleged forgery being a typo in a passport issued by local authorities to replace the documents lost during the war in Chechnya.

However, during the prosecution, Amriev reported torture and linked it to the blood feud opened against his brother by Magomed Dashaev, now head of Chechnya police. The MMA fighter then fled Russia fearing future prosecution.

In June 5, 2017 Amriev was again detained in Bryansk in Western Russia, reportedly on grounds of the same case. Among the policemen that arrived to transport him to Chechnya, he reportedly spotted one of his torturers. Being formally not under arrest, he escaped the next day.

On June 8 Amriev was arrested in Belarus, where he intended to apply for political asylum. The same day he was delivered to Russia on grounds of the document forgery case.

On June 9, Amriev’s family left for Chechnya, fearing for their lives.

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