RUSSIA:Former rebel Ramzan Kadyrov has been nominated president of the Russian republic of Chechnya, despite persistent allegations of torture made against him.
The timing of the announcement from the Kremlin came as human rights organisations boycotted a conference in Chechnya organised by Mr Kadyrov's regime.
Mr Kadyrov is the son of former Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov, who was killed in an explosion in 2004. Both had been active in the guerrilla campaign against Russian authority in the republic, but then switched sides.
In Russia it had been expected that once Mr Kadyrov jnr became eligible for the post, after his recent 30th birthday, his promotion from the post of deputy prime minister to president would become inevitable.
Lyudmila Alexeyeva, the head of the Helsinki Group human rights organisation, was among the activists to snub the current conference, arguing that attendance would only give Mr Kadyrov credibility.
"Kadyrov is to blame for kidnappings of many innocent people. Their bodies were found later with signs of torture," she said yesterday.
Ms Alexeyeva claims to have cried with the families of victims who perished through torture at Mr Kadyrov's hand.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch claimed recently that it had proof that at least 10 torture centres were operating in the region and said it had spoken to some of the victims, who had testified to the use of electric shocks and beatings by punching, kicking and the use of clubs.
Chechnya's own human rights ombudsman yesterday estimated that at least 2,700 people had disappeared during the conflict.
Mr Kadyrov has also been accused of a role in the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was the most vocal critic of human rights abuses in Chechnya. But he denied he was involved in her death, with the telling comment: "I do not kill women."
Mr Kadyrov has also orchestrated a cult of personality, fuelling speculation that his loyalty to Moscow may not be permanent.