"Such animals must be removed from our country." The Akhmat commander spoke about Shchepikhin's abduction.
Commander of the Chechen special forces Apti Alaudinov He accused Law enforcement agencies are guilty of allowing Areg Shchepikhin to publish offensive statements against Muslims for a long time.
"Where are our authorities who should be dealing with this issue? <…> You must understand that you can't just insult the Chechen people. <…> We love to hold them accountable for every insult they've inflicted on us. And we will always do so."
In his address, the Chechen special forces commander, who also holds the position of deputy head of the Main Military-Political Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces, called the Chechens who kidnapped him "handsome men" and Shchepikhin himself an "animal" and a "rooster."
"Such animals should be removed from our country, anywhere—sent straight to hell. This is what these people deserve—those who call for the overthrow of the current government and who say we're in for a military coup," said Alaudinov.
40-year-old Areg Shchepikhin was kidnapped from Yaroslavsky Station to Moscow June 3: Six men in black suits, ignoring the large number of onlookers, loaded him into the trunk of a Mercedes with license plates used by the Federal Protective Service. Later, in Chechnya, this have been named “detention” and emphasized that Shchepikhin had repeatedly “insulted religion and God,” “called for ethnic cleansing and Nazism.”
Shchepikhin himself later said that he was taken out of town, where he was beaten and questioned about his connections with Ukraine.
The Investigative Committee has already announced that all six individuals involved in the forcible removal of the blogger from Yaroslavsky Station have been charged with kidnapping and abuse of office.
Shchepikhin also became a defendant in the criminal case: he is accused of public calls for extremism and incitement to hatred, which investigators see in the videos he published.