Turpal-Ali Atgeriyev (8 May 1969 – 18 August 2002) was a

deputy prime minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

national security National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of a sovereign state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government. Originally conceived as protection against military atta ...

minister of

Chechnya Chechnya ( rus, Чечня́, Chechnyá, p=tɕɪtɕˈnʲa; ce, Нохчийчоь, Noxçiyçö), officially the Chechen Republic,; ce, Нохчийн Республика, Noxçiyn Respublika is a republic of Russia. It is situated in the ...

Biography

Atgeriev was a former Soviet traffic police officer and a veteran of the Georgian-Abkhazian War. During the

First Chechen War The First Chechen War, also known as the First Chechen Campaign,, rmed conflict in the Chechen Republic and on bordering territories of the Russian FederationФедеральный закон № 5-ФЗ от 12 января 1995 (в реда� ...

he coordinated all units during the battles of

Grozny Grozny ( rus, Грозный, p=ˈgroznɨj; ce, Соьлжа-ГӀала, translit=Sölƶa-Ġala), also spelled Groznyy, is the capital city of Chechnya, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the 2010 census, it had a pop ...

and served as a field commander of the

Shelkovsky District Shelkovskoy District (russian: Шелковско́й райо́н; ce, Шелковскан кӀошт, ''Şelkovskan khoşt'') is an administrativeDecree #500 and municipalLaw #42-RZ district (raion), one of the fifteen in the Chechen Republic, ...

of Chechnya, including taking part in the 1996 Kizlyar-Pervomayskoye hostage crisis in

Dagestan Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North C ...

. Later, he became a Deputy Prime Minister in the government of the Chechen

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Aslan Maskhadov Aslan (Khalid) Aliyevich Maskhadov (russian: Асла́н (Хали́д) Али́евич Масха́дов; ce, Масхадан Али-воӀ Аслан (Халид), Masxadan Ali-voj Aslan (Xalid); 21 September 1951 – 8 March 2005) was ...

. In July 1999, while trying to engage in talks with the Russian side, Atgeriev was briefly arrested at Moscow's Vnukovo airport together with Chechen Deputy

Prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...

-General Adam Torkhashev and two

officials An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...

from the Moscow office of the Chechen

Interior Ministry An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

. He has twice told Russian media that he alerted the then

Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) RF; rus, Федеральная служба безопасности Российской Федерации (ФСБ России), Federal'naya sluzhba bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Feder ...

(FSB) Director

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

in the summer of 1999 to the imminent incursion into Dagestan.CHECHEN DEPUTY PREMIER'S DEATH IN PRISON CONFIRMED
RFE/RL, 02-08-23 Atgeriev did not take active part in the

Second Chechen War The Second Chechen War (russian: Втора́я чече́нская война́, ) took place in Chechnya and the border regions of the North Caucasus between the Russia, Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, from Augus ...

(at this time, he had no armed men under his command besides his personal

bodyguard A bodyguard (or close protection officer/operative) is a type of security guard, government law enforcement officer, or servicemember who protects a person or a group of people — usually witnesses, high-ranking public officials or officers, w ...

s). Nevertheless, he was falsely implicated in the scandalous prisoner swap of Andrei Babitsky, a Russian journalist kidnapped by the Russian military. Atgeriev, whom ''

Nezavisimaya Gazeta ''Nezavisimaya Gazeta'' ( rus, Независимая газета, p=nʲɪzɐˈvʲisʲɪməjə ɡɐˈzʲetə, t=Independent Newspaper) is a Russian daily newspaper. History and profile ''Nezavisimaya Gazeta'' was first published on 21 December ...

'' termed "the last remaining member of the Chechen leadership who is unequivocally loyal to President Aslan Maskhadov," was captured in October 2000 and sentenced to 15 years in prison. On 18 August 2002, while serving the sentence in

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administra ...

prison, Atgeriev mysteriously died from "internal bleeding" that was attributed to

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

. The Chechen Deputy Premier

Akhmed Zakayev Akhmed Halidovich Zakayev ( ce, Заки Хьалид кlант Ахьмад, Zaki Halid-khant Ahmad; russian: Ахмед Халидович Закаев, Akhmed Khalidovich Zakayev; born 26 April 1959) is a former Deputy Prime Minister and Pri ...

accused the Russian authorities of murdering Atgeriev. His relatives claimed he was

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...

d to death. The case was highlighted in the

open letter An open letter is a Letter (message), letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally. Open letters usually take the form of a letter (mess ...

Memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...

to Putin.OPEN LETTER ISSUES WARNING.
The Jamestown Foundation, 11 November 2002

References

External links

June 1999 interview for the USMC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atgeriev, Turpal-Ali 1969 births 2002 deaths Chechen field commanders Chechen nationalists Deputy prime ministers of Chechnya People of the Chechen wars Politicians of Ichkeria Prisoners who died in Russian detention Chechen warlords Russian people of Chechen descent Chechen people Soviet police officers North Caucasian independence activists