Circassian Young Man Nurdin Karaf Reportedly Killed Under Torture

According to sources, Nurdin’s father began searching for him after his disappearance. During this period, he reportedly received telephone calls containing direct threats concerning his son’s fate. The callers allegedly warned him that his son’s life would be in danger if he continued his activities related to the Circassian cause.

Nurdin’s father reportedly refused to submit to these threats and publicly disclosed that he had received threatening calls connected to his son’s disappearance.

According to the accounts, members of the Russian Federal Security Service subsequently took Nurdin’s father and mother to an FSB facility in Nalchik, where they were allegedly subjected to pressure and further threats.

During this period, Nurdin’s father was reportedly forced to record a video stating that his son had voluntarily served as a contract soldier in the Russian military. Circassian activists familiar with the case firmly reject this claim. They maintain that Nurdin was not a contract soldier and that his father’s recorded statement was produced under coercion. They therefore argue that the video cannot be regarded as a voluntary or reliable account of Nurdin’s military status or the circumstances of his disappearance.

According to sources close to the Russian security services, Nurdin had in fact been forcibly mobilized by the Russian military and was to be sent to fight on the Ukrainian front. The sources indicate that he resisted being sent to war and was subsequently taken to a mobilization camp whose location remains unknown.

Nurdin was reportedly subjected to severe torture at the camp. It is believed that he died as a result of the torture inflicted upon him because of his resistance to forced mobilization.

His family was subsequently informed of his death and shown his body. However, they were told that Nurdin’s body would not be returned to them. No independent autopsy, forensic report, or transparent official explanation concerning the circumstances and precise cause of his death has been made publicly available.

Sources familiar with the case have raised concern that the body may be withheld for a prolonged period. Such a delay could cause possible signs of torture—particularly injuries to soft tissues—and other forensic evidence to deteriorate or become more difficult to identify, potentially compromising an independent determination of the cause and circumstances of Nurdin’s death.

The reported refusal to release the body has intensified concern within Circassian communities. It has also created suspicions that the delay may be intended to obstruct an independent autopsy and prevent the effective documentation of injuries that could establish how Nurdin died.

Circassian activists are calling for Nurdin’s body to be returned to his family without delay, for all potential evidence to be preserved, and for an independent investigation into his forced mobilization, reported torture, and death.

Furthermore, an apparently AI-generated image portraying Nurdin as an armed Russian soldier has also been circulated in support of the claim that he joined the military voluntarily. Activists allege that the fabricated image forms part of an effort by the Russian security services to legitimize this narrative and conceal the circumstances of his forced mobilization.

Editorial Note

Reports of torture, deaths in custody, and other serious human rights violations in Russian detention facilities have repeatedly been documented by human rights organizations. Against this background, the allegations concerning Nurdin Karaf’s death and the reported coercion of his family require an independent and transparent investigation.

Prolonged withholding of the body could degrade or obscure crucial forensic evidence and make it considerably more difficult to determine whether torture occurred. Nurdin’s body must be properly preserved, independently examined, and returned to his family without delay.