Watchdog

Amnesty International says it has information that a missing Ukrainian blogger is being held by pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk.

In a July 12 statement, Amnesty said it had received information on July 8 from sources in the Donetsk region saying that Stanislav Aseyev is being held by the self-styled security organs of the Russia-backed separatists.

Aseyev, who writes under the name Stanislav Vasin and who contributes to RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, disappeared in Donetsk on June 2.

The separatists who control some parts of the Donetsk region have repeatedly denied having any information regarding Aseyev.

But Amnesty said it was a common practice for the separatists to keep in custody people they suspect of disloyalty to what they call the Donetsk People's Republic or of "subversive" activities incommunicado while denying knowledge of their whereabouts.

Amnesty also said that Aseyev remained at risk of torture and other ill-treatment and called for immediate action to release him.

RFE/RL Editor in Chief Nenad Pejic said earlier that Aseyev's detention, if true, was "deeply alarming and lawless" and demanded his immediate release.

On June 12, Ukraine's National Union of Journalists asked the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe for assistance in locating Aseyev.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-installed head of the North Caucasus Republic of Chechnya, has criticized the recent conviction and sentencing of five Chechens for the 2015 murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov.

According to a statement posted on the Chechen government's website, Kadyrov told a government meeting on July 13 that the five men were convicted on "doubtful evidence."

Kadyrov reportedly said he was surprised that prosecutors sought a life sentence for the convicted triggerman, Zaur Dadayev, as he could not recall a similar punishment being handed down in comparable criminal cases.

In a video recorded after the meeting, Kadyrov described the men as "completely innocent."

Nemtsov, who was a vocal critic of Kadyrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin, was shot dead near the Kremlin on February 27, 2015. The five Chechens with ties to Kadyrov's security forces were given long prison terms by a Moscow military court on July 13.

Kadyrov also said the killings of Chechens and other Caucasians in Russian cites were routinely ignored by human rights activists.

"I am convinced that a well-financed, intentional informational and ideological war is being waged against Chechnya and its people," Kadyrov said.

Earlier this week, Amnesty International urged the Kremlin to investigate a Novaya Gazeta report that 27 people had been summarily executed by Chechen security forces in January.

Security forces controlled by Kremlin-installed Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov have been accused of gross human rights abuses for many years, including abductions, torture, and killings.