On August 18, a rally in support of Chechen nationals denied asylum by Germany took place in Bern, Switzerland. Participants feared that if returned to Russia, they could face persecution, torture, and forced re-enlistment to fight.

Representatives of the Chechen diaspora and human rights activists gathered outside the German Embassy in Switzerland. They called on German authorities to reexamine the cases of several Chechen families and Muslim Alkhazov, whose asylum applications were rejected.

Speakers at the rally included Zainap Gashaeva, head of the European Peace House in Switzerland, and Fatima Gazieva, a representative of PeaceWomen Across the Globe in Belgium. According to human rights activist Roza Dunaeva, the rally participants demanded that attention be paid to the cases of Alkhazov, as well as the Abuyev, Murtazov, Shakhbiyev, and Umarov families.

All of these people left Chechnya, fearing return. Human rights activists believe they face not only persecution by security forces in their homeland but also forced conscription to fight in the war against Ukraine. Germany, however, deemed the evidence presented by the applicants insufficient. Some of them are currently appealing their asylum denials.

One of the central cases discussed at the rally was that of Muslim (Mubarik) Alkhazov. According to human rights activists, security forces repeatedly abducted and tortured him after accusing him of supporting Chechen independence during two wars.

In 2018, Alkhazov was accused of allegedly displaying the flag of the Islamic State, a terrorist organization banned in Russia, in a village. After his arrest, he was tortured for several days at a police station in Gudermes. According to human rights activists, his parents and wife, Khava Tazabaeva, were also taken there. The woman was beaten and held without legal grounds.
The family was released after Alkhazov agreed to plead guilty. The couple then left Russia and moved to Germany.

However, according to human rights activists, the persecution did not end there. In early 2022, Tazabaeva publicly spoke about the torture she had suffered in Chechnya. Soon after, security forces detained her father, Ramzan Tazabaev. He was taken from the police station to the hospital, where he later died.

Despite their account of torture and threats to their relatives, German authorities denied Alkhazov and Tazabaeva asylum. One of the reasons given for this was that, according to German officials, the couple could not confirm Alkhazov's illegal detention at the Gudermes District Department of Internal Affairs.

Human rights activists are now demanding that German authorities evaluate these cases not only based on the availability of formal documents, but also taking into account the risks that Chechen applicants may face upon returning to Russia.