February 19, 2026 - 17:24 AMT
Slain Chechen woman to be buried in Armenia

The 23-year-old Chechen woman killed in Yerevan, Aishat Baymuradova, will be buried in Armenia at the expense of the state, as her relatives have not come to claim the body.

According to the Investigative Committee, Baymuradova will be buried in Armenia in accordance with the law, with expenses covered by the Armenian state, as no family members have arrived to retrieve her remains, RFE/RL reported.

New details have emerged in the case of Baymuradova, who fled to Yerevan from Chechnya due to domestic violence. Four months after the incident, the Investigative Committee said Russian citizens Karina Iminova and Said-Khamzat Baysarov are suspected of her murder. Months after the crime, law enforcement authorities have declared them wanted.

Armenian and Russian human rights defenders claim the suspects have ties to the regime of Chechnya’s current president Ramzan Kadyrov.

It is not yet known when Baymuradova’s funeral will take place, as her body has been kept in a Yerevan morgue for more than 120 days. The investigator has not yet made a decision.

“There is no time limit; it is left to the investigator’s discretion. If the investigator decides now to proceed with the burial and a week later the father arrives, then another question arises — on what grounds did you bury her, should you not have waited? But how long can they wait? There is an issue related to a reasonable time frame,” said Artur Sakunts, head of the Vanadzor office of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly.

Earlier, Baymuradova’s friend told BBC News that Aishat had said her family had kinship ties to former Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov.

Aishat Baymuradova fled from Chechnya to Armenia in January last year. Russian human rights defenders had been planning her escape for about a year after she sought their help.

In Armenia, Baymuradova openly shared details about herself and her location on a public Instagram page. Friends said she had met Karina Iminova, suspected in her death, via Instagram. Iminova and a man later invited Baymuradova to a rented apartment. From that apartment, she sent a video to her friends, in which Karina was also seen. Shortly afterward, Baymuradova stopped responding to calls.

After October 17, friends and law enforcement began searching for her. Two days later, her body was found in an apartment in central Yerevan.