Chechen woman who fled to Georgia reportedly killed after returning home in suspicious circumstances
Aliya Ozdamirova, a 33-year-old Chechen woman who fled to Georgia before returning home under suspicious circumstances, has died in Chechnya in what some of her acquaintances believe to have been a so-called ‘honour killing’. If the reports are verified, it would be the latest in a long string of killings of Chechen women who have attempted to escape domestic violence or threats at home.
Human rights defenders from the organisation NC SOS Crisis Group reported that Ozdamirova had been buried in Chechnya on Wednesday after being ‘deceived or forcibly taken’ back to the republic from Georgia days earlier.
Ozdamirova had been in touch with the organisation for years, saying she had been threatened by family members over her sexual orientation — likely meaning her queer identity — as well as her unspecified business activities. Reportedly, some of her business partners owed money to outside investors, and accused Ozdamirova of stealing the money.
Reportedly, her late father Usman Ozdamirov, as well as her brothers, maintained close links to Chechen Head Ramzan Kadyrov and his ruling clique.
After her father died in 2020, Ozdamirova’s life grew increasingly complicated, the NC SOS Crisis Group said, prompting her to contemplate leaving Chechnya altogether.
In the fall of 2025, she finally left Chechnya, first going to Turkey, and from there traveling to Georgia, where she remained until November.
Earlier in November, Ozdamirova received a message from a family friend, who claimed that a criminal case on charges of ‘financing terrorism’ had been opened against her, which could prevent her from leaving Georgia.
Although activists from the NC SOS Crisis Group could not find any evidence of the veracity of the charges, they nonetheless advised her to leave Georgia.
At the time, Ozdamirova was in contact with her uncle in Baku, who she said she trusted and who would help her fly via Dubai to an unspecified third country.
The NC SOS Crisis Group warned Ozdamirova that it could be a trap, but she opted to follow through, and ended up crossing into Russia from Georgia under unknown circumstances on 9 November.
The following day, rumours began to spread that she had been murdered in an honour killing, likely by someone in her family.
If confirmed, it would be the third such murder of Chechen woman in similar circumstances within the last month.
At the end of October, Aishat Baymuradova, a 23-year-old woman from Chechnya who fled to Armenia to escape an abusive marriage, was found dead in Yerevan — human rights activists believe the murder to be an honour killing.
Earlier in November, Chechen native Larisa Arsanukaeva, a 39-year-old mother of seven children, was murdered in front of her three-year-old daughter in Nice, France. Media reports have indicated that the suspect, who was detained at the scene, was her estranged abusive ex-husband, Bashir Alibiev, also from Chechnya. Both Alibiev and Arsanukaeva had been living in France before her murder.
Elizaveta Chukharova
