Turpal-Ali Aladiyevich 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 Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...

national security National security, or national defence (national defense in American English), is the security and Defence (military), defence of a sovereign state, including its Citizenship, citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of ...

minister of

Chechnya Chechnya, officially the Chechen Republic, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia. It is situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, between the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The republic forms a part of the North Caucasian Federa ...

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 referred to as the First Russo-Chechen War, was a struggle for independence waged by the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria against the invading Russia, Russian Federation from 1994 to 1996. After a mutually agreed on treaty ...

he coordinated all units during the battles of

Grozny Grozny (, ; ) is the capital city of Chechnya, Russia. The city lies on the Sunzha River. According to the 2021 Russian census, 2021 census, it had a population of 328,533 — up from 210,720 recorded in the 2002 Russian Census, 2002 ce ...

and served as a field commander of the Shelkovsky District of Chechnya, including taking part in the 1996 Kizlyar-Pervomayskoye hostage crisis in

Dagestan Dagestan ( ; ; ), officially the Republic of Dagestan, is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, along the Caspian Sea. It is located north of the Greater Caucasus, and is a part of the North Caucasian Fede ...

. 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: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Aslan Maskhadov. 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 adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

-General Adam Torkhashev and two

officials An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless of 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 the ...

from the Moscow office of the Chechen

Interior Ministry An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

. He has twice told Russian media that he alerted the then Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) Director

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

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 (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 an very important person, important person or group of people, such as high-ranking public offic ...

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 ( rus, Независимая газета, p=nʲɪzɐˈvʲisʲɪməjə ɡɐˈzʲetə, t=Independent Newspaper) is a Russian daily newspaper. History and profile Soviet Union was established by the Moscow Soviet in August 1990. Its first ed ...

'' 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 (, ; ), alternatively Romanization of Russian, romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( ; 1924–1991), is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District, Russia. The ci ...

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

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

. The Chechen Deputy Premier Akhmed Zakayev 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 including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...

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 such as home ...

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 Chechen warlords Deputy prime ministers of Chechnya People of the Chechen wars Politicians of Ichkeria Prisoners who died in Russian detention Russian people of Chechen descent Soviet police officers North Caucasian independence activists Unsolved deaths in Russia