Singer Avraam Russo Gets Paid for 2004 Kidnapping

Avraam Russo

A Moscow court ruled that Tarkhan Eldukayev, from Chechnya, must pay Russian pop singer Avraam Russo 600,000 rubles (about $7,500 USD). This is to make up for the suffering Russo went through when he was kidnapped in 2004.

The Kuntsevsky District Court of Moscow agreed with part of Russo's case. The court said Eldukayev and others did cause the singer emotional harm. The criminal case about the kidnapping ended because too much time had passed. But the court said Russo still had the right to be paid. They noted that ending a case for this reason doesn't mean Russo was innocent.

What Happened During the Kidnapping

According to court papers, on January 31, 2004, Telman Ismailov, who ran the Cherkizovsky Market in Moscow, invited Russo to dinner at the Praga restaurant on Arbat Street. There, Russo was beaten and told to cancel his concerts and work with Ismailov on Ismailov's terms. Then, the singer was taken to Aprelevka, a place near Moscow, and let go only after he agreed to what the kidnappers wanted.

Russo’s lawyer, Aleshkin, said in court that Ismailov thought Russo was like a possession, someone who should sing when and where he was told. A court reporter said the court found that after the kidnapping, Eldukayev hit Russo in the groin, threatened him with a knife, and insulted him.

In the summer of 2006, Russo didn't want to work with Ismailov anymore and got a new producer. Then, someone tried to kill him by shooting at his car. Investigators think Eldukayev helped find the people who did the shooting.

Ismailov was put on an international wanted list in November 2017. Russo left Russia and is still living in another country. Separately, Eldukayev was found guilty in August 2025 of planning to kill two businessmen, the Gurshumov brothers. He was given 14.5 years in prison. Russo's lawyer said the court's decision was good and that the amount of money was normal for these types of cases in Moscow courts.

Russo, who became a famous singer in the early 2000s, was born in Lebanon to an Armenian family. He sings pop music.

European Court Orders Russia to Pay for Missing Chechen People

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has told Russia to pay a total of €122,724. This is for two different cases from people in Chechnya whose relatives disappeared.

The first case was from the parents of Isa Maayev, who disappeared on March 10, 2003. They said that ten men in military uniforms came into Maayev's home and took him. No one has seen him since.

The second case was from the wife of Ruslanbek Alikhadziyev. She said Russian soldiers stopped her husband at a checkpoint near the village of Meskert-Yurt on April 20, 2005. He has been missing since then. The investigations into these disappearances are still going on.

Russia didn't give the ECHR all the information it asked for about these cases. Russia said it didn't have proof that government people had kidnapped the two Chechen residents.

The ECHR decided that Russia broke several parts of the European Convention on Human Rights, including: Article 2 (Right to Life), Article 3 (No Torture), Article 5 (Right to Freedom), and Article 13 (Right to a Way to Get Justice).

The ECHR said Russia must pay €60,000 for each of the two cases, plus the legal costs.

ECHR Complaint Numbers

Russia is still the country with the most new complaints filed against it at the European Court. In 2009, one out of every three complaints came from Russia. About 2% of all complaints were from people in the North Caucasus region. As of January 1, 2010, the ECHR had 33,000 complaints against Russia, out of 57,000 total cases.