When a Moscow court sentenced a 16-year-old boy from the republic of Chechnya to nearly two years in a penal colony last month, it did so in defiance of Chechens across the political spectrum. Muslim Murdiev’s case on criminal hooliganism charges for a 2023 street brawl had brought him sympathizers ranging from Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov to the strongman’s fiercest critics in exile. “It’s not just a criminal case. This case became a symbol of injustice and discrimination against a teenager from Chechnya, including in everyday life,” said Chechen human rights lawyer and prominent Kadyrov critic Abubakar Yangulbaev. Murdiev was placed under house arrest in December 2023 following a brawl at the Khodynskoye Polye park in the northwest of the Russian capital. Prosecutors maintained that he and four other boys deliberately provoked the fight by verbally attacking an unsuspecti
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