A man who had formally accused the president of Chechnya of participating in kidnappings and torture sessions was fatally shot Tuesday as he walked out of a grocery store in Vienna, according to his lawyer and family friends.
The shooting appeared to be another politically motivated killing of a Russian citizen who had criticized government conduct.
The slain Chechen, Umar S. Israilov, 27, had been detained as a separatist rebel, then was given amnesty and briefly became a bodyguard to President Ramzan A. Kadyrov of Chechnya. He ultimately fled Chechnya for Europe.
In late 2006, Israilov filed a complaint against Russia in the European Court of Human Rights that detailed his claims of the systematic use of abductions and torture by Kadyrov, and indigenous security forces under Kadyrov’s command, to punish suspected insurgents and their families.
