Human rights lawyer Tatyana Solomina receives death threats from family of Chechen man she assisted
Lawyer Tatyana Solomina has begun receiving threats from the family of a Chechen man who she assisted after he fled his home, the LGBTQ+ crisis group SK SOS reported on Tuesday.
According to the organization’s statement, the man (who was not named) fled Chechnya in July after his father and brother threatened to kill him and to turn him in to the “Kadyrovites.” Soon after, his relatives found him in the city of Tyumen, but before they could forcibly send him back to Chechnya, he managed to contact Solomina, who helped him relocate to a different region.
Later, the man called his mother to ask her to stop searching for him. During their conversation, she began threatening Solomina:
We hired the most notorious bandits and paid them to carry out the execution of this woman [Solomina] and her child. You can tell her these thugs are going to find her. Now, when [her son] starts going to school on September 1, they’ll be waiting for him there, and this penalty will be served. We’re simply not going to let anyone drag you away.
The man’s mother emphasized that the family knows where Solomina lives and where her 13-year-old son goes to school.
Solomina has filed a report with the Russian Investigative Committee.