“They will either kill me or cut me up”. Second Chechen woman killed in a month was after fleeing abroad

“My life is in danger.” Aliya Ozdamirova

On November 12, human rights group NC SOS, which helps LGBTQ+ individuals escape from the republics of the North Caucasus, reported the death of 33-year-old Chechen native Aliya Ozdamirova. She first reached out to human rights activists in 2023: she had been receiving threats related to her sexual orientation.

Ozdamirova was born into an influential Chechen family. Her father, Usman Ozdamirov, was a close associate of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, was elected several times to the local parliament, and served as deputy minister of sports for the republic.

After his death in 2020, conflicts within the family intensified: no one stood up for the young woman anymore in front of her brother and cousins, who are also close to the Chechen leadership. In addition to their complaints about her lifestyle, Aliya’s brothers believed that she had stolen from investors in her business. The young woman said that this was slander.

Less than a month ago, on October 20, Ozdamirova flew from Chechnya to Georgia.

“When I left the house and took this step, I fully understood that I might have to talk about all this. Perhaps it will have to be made public. <...> My life is in danger,“ says the deceased in a recording of a conversation published on the NC SOS website. ”And even if something happens to me, I want people to know what happened and how. Every minute I risk my life — either they will kill me here, or they will cut me up.”

At the end of 2025, she planned to leave Georgia for a safe country. But in November, a “lawyer acquaintance” contacted Ozdamirova and said that she would not be able to cross the border because of an alleged case against her for “financing terrorism.”

Aliya’s uncle, Ali Asaev, whom she described as a “representative of Ichkeria in Azerbaijan” with serious connections, tried to dissuade her from leaving as well. Asaev also mentioned the criminal case and assured the young woman that he had a friend in the authorities who could remove the “flag” at the border — but only in a few days.

Human rights activists found no evidence that a case had actually been opened against Aliya and decided that this was an attempt to stall for time. Ozdamirova was advised to leave Georgia as soon as possible. The flight was scheduled for November 8.

On that day, Aliya went to the airport and then stopped communicating. Later, she wrote to activists that Asaev was waiting for her there.

Aliya trusted her uncle and was sure that he was on her side, so she did not listen to the human rights activists and stayed with him. Aliyev promised her an unhindered flight to Dubai the next day.

On November 9, according to NC SOS, Ozdamirova crossed the land border between Georgia and Russia. Rumors of her death began to spread the very next day, and her funeral was held on November 12. Relatives claim that she died of “natural” causes, but the woman’s friends and human rights activists believe that Aliya was the victim of an “honor killing.”

“It is not certain whether her forced return and possible murder were related to her sexual orientation or to her family’s dissatisfaction with business problems,” NC SOS wrote.

“I wasn’t ready for marriage.” Aishat Baimuradova

Human rights activists also link the death of another young woman who fled Chechnya just a month ago to an “honor killing.” We are talking about 23-year-old Aishat Baimuradova, who left for Armenia because of domestic violence.

According to NC SOS, Aishat was raised by her father from childhood. She was separated from her mother immediately after birth. The mother was forbidden from seeing her daughter. Aishat talked about beatings and even sexual abuse in the family.

The young woman was married off early; she could not refuse, as this would have given rise to rumors that she was a “trollop.” She had to marry a 29-year-old man chosen by her relatives, whom she had seen three times in her life. Aishat did not want children either, but became pregnant quite quickly. “I wasn’t ready for marriage, let alone a child,” Aishat said. “I cried all the time, unable to accept the fact that something alive was growing inside me.” 

The young woman was even afraid of becoming too attached to the child, because her husband could use this love to blackmail her. Aishat said that her husband was unfaithful to her, but at the same time accused her of infidelity, which could have been a reason for her murder. In the end, she decided to divorce him and left him to go to her parents. But Aishat’s relatives forced her to return.

“After that, the beatings resumed and became even more severe: her husband held a gun to her head multiple times and threatened to kill her if she did not do what he said,” NC SOS reported.

Since early 2025, the young woman had been living in Armenia, where human rights activists had helped her escape, but on October 15, she stopped communicating after meeting with an acquaintance from Instagram. Later, activists found people from Ramzan Kadyrov’s circle among this acquaintance’s followers.

Security forces found Aishat’s body a few days later in a rented apartment on Demirchyan Street in Yerevan. The founder of the human rights project “Caucasus Without a Mother,” Lydia Mikhalchenko, told the independepnt media outlet Agentstvo that the young woman had been strangled.

On November 11, it became known that the Investigative Committee of Armenia had opened a criminal case into the murder of the Chechen woman, with two suspects wanted in connection with the case. Their names have not been disclosed, but the police previously found out that on the day of the murder, Aishat's friend Karina Iminova and 30-year-old Chechen native Said-Khamzat Baysarov left the apartment.

No safety abroad. What are “honor killings”?

Svetlana Anokhina, a human rights activist and editor-in-chief of Daptar.ru, a website about women’s rights in Dagestan, explains that relatives resort to “honor killings” when they believe that the victim has disgraced the family with their actions.

This usually refers to actions that are forbidden in a particular culture: marital infidelity, premarital sex, rape, or homosexual relationships. Other reasons may include “airing dirty laundry in public” — for example, complaints of domestic violence — as well as insufficient religiosity, “immodest behavior,” or attempting to divorce one's husband.

In Russia, “honor killings” are practiced in the republics of the North Caucasus — Dagestan, Chechnya, and Ingushetia. According to estimates by the human rights progect “Legal Initiative,” between 2012 and 2017, at least 39 people were killed in these republics for reasons of “honor”: 36 women and three men.

Human rights activists emphasize that the actual number of such murders is higher, but there are no official statistics, and the topic is too taboo in society.

“There were several cases of ‘honor killings’ in our village. One of the girls ran away from home and was found dead a couple of months later. Everyone knew that her relatives had done it, but no one talked about it openly. In another case, a young woman was forcibly married, she tried to resist and was killed for ‘bringing shame.’ These stories weren’t even discussed in whispers, they were just part of reality, part of our lives,” said a 19-year-old Chechen woman who fled from her relatives in an interview with Radio Liberty.

Victims of violence who have fled are often not safe even abroad. Their relatives constantly try to find them, with the open support of the Chechen authorities, who always side with the family and blame human rights activists for the kidnappings and murders.

In early February, local police in Kazakhstan detained 24-year-old Chechen Elza Soltaeva, who had fled from her relatives, and in the summer, another victim of domestic violence, Laura Avtorhanova, was abducted from a shelter in Georgia and attempts were made to take her to Chechnya. Both young women were rescued thanks to the intervention of human rights activists.

One of the most recent known cases of “honor killings” is the story of Seda Suleimanova, who fled Chechnya to St. Petersburg in 2023 because of violence from her relatives. The young woman refused to enter into a marriage imposed by her family and, in their opinion, was “not religious enough.”

The St. Petersburg police helped her relatives forcibly take Seda home. She was visited once by the Chechen ombudsman, and then she disappeared without a trace. The Investigative Committee opened a murder case, and Seda was declared missing.

In early November, news came about another native of Chechnya had been murdered in Nice. Larisa Arsankaeva, 39, was stabbed to death by her ex-husband Bashir Alibiev. He attacked the woman with a knife as she was returning home with her children. The eldest daughter tried to protect her mother, but Alibiev stabbed her too. The daughter is in critical condition.

Arsunkayeva had seven children, five of whom Alibiev took away after the divorce and forbade the woman to see them, according to Kavkaz.Realii.

The man was detained. He had previously been charged with domestic violence, but in 2024, a court in France not only acquitted him but also granted him custody of the five children.

Editor: Maxim Litavrin