Amina Okueva: Difference between revisions

| native_name = {{Nobold|Аміна Вікторівна Окуєва}}

| image = Amyna Okueva (cropped).jpg

| birth_place = [[OdessaOdesa]], [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukrainian SSR]], [[Soviet Union]]

| spouse = {{unbulleted list|{{marriage|Isa Mustafinov<br />|2000|2003|reason=d}}|{{marriage|Islam Tukhashev<br />|reason=div}}|{{marriage|[[Adam OsmaevOsmayev]]<br />|2009|}}}}

| alma_mater = [[OdessaOdesa National Medical University]]

'''Amina Viktorivna Okueva''' ({{Lang-uk|Аміна Вікторівна Окуєва}}; 5 June 1983 – 30 October 2017) was a [[Ukraine|Ukrainian]]-born doctor of [[Chechens|Chechen]]-[[Polish people|Polish]] descent, [[Euromaidan]] activist, convert to [[Islam]], and police lieutenant. During the Euromaidan she worked as a medic in the Kyiv-2 battalion and saw combat in the city of [[Debaltseve]] after it was taken over by [[Russia]]n-aligned rebels in 2015. She was killed in an ambush by unknown attackers on 30 October 2017. Her husband [[Adam OsmaevOsmayev]], a leader of the [[Dzhokhar Dudayev Battalion]], was injured in the ambush but survived.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=https://en.hromadske.ua/posts/who-was-amina-okueva-the-chechen-ukrainian-snipet-killed-last-week|title=Who Was Amina Okueva, The Chechen-Ukrainian Sniper Killed This Week?|work=Hromadske|access-date=2018-01-31}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41811969|title=Man 'who plotted to kill Putin' wounded|date=2017-10-31|work=BBC News|access-date=2018-06-20|language=en-GB}}</ref>

Okueva was born anNatalia only childNikiforova in [[OdessaOdesa]] in 1983. toAn only child, and the daughter of a [[Chechens|Chechen]] father and a [[PolesPolish people|Polish]] mother from the [[North Caucasus]]., Okueva stated that she did not know her father due to his early death.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}} She lived with her family in [[Moscow]] and [[Grozny]] before moving back to Ukraine in 2003 after fighting on the side of the [[Chechen Republic of Ichkeria]] the [[Second Chechen War]], having converted to Islam at the age of 17.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=https://en.hromadske.ua/posts/who-was-amina-okueva-the-chechen-ukrainian-snipet-killed-last-week|title=Who Was Amina Okueva, The Chechen-Ukrainian Sniper Killed This Week?|website=en.hromadske.ua|access-date=2020-01-27}}</ref> ThenAfter her conversion and marriage to Isa Mustafinov, she changed her name. Firstfirst name ofto Amina Okueva was Natalia Nikiforova.<ref name=":2" /> After she married Isa Mustafinov, sheShe changed her namesurname to Amina and became Okueva after hera second marriage and did not change her name any more.<ref name=":2" /> Upon arrival in Ukraine she enrolled at the [[OdessaOdesa National Medical University]] where she specialized in general surgery before working as an intern at a local hospital. She was married three times; her first husband, Isa Mustafinov, whom she married in 2000, died in 2003 during the [[Second Chechen warWar]]. Islam Tukhashev, her second husband, was deported from Ukraine for illegally staying in the country and was later sentenced to life imprisonment in Russia for the murder of Russian intelligence officers in [[Ingushetia]]; due to his residency status the marriage was not registered in Ukraine. In 2009 she met [[Adam OsmaevOsmayev]], who is currently accused of attempting to assassinate [[Vladimir Putin]]; they later had a wedding ceremony but did not officially register the marriage.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/features-41815853|title=Жінка-воїн Аміна Окуєва: що про неї відомо?|date=2017-10-31|work=BBC News Україна|access-date=2018-06-20|language=en-GBuk}}</ref>

After the start of [[Euromaidan]] she joined a unit of [[Afghanistan]] veterans by staffing a medical tent during the protests. She joined the "Kyiv-2" battalion to serve as a [[paramedic]] in Eastern Ukraine after the start of the [[War in DonbassDonbas (2014–2022)|conflict]], but she did not practice medicine much while she was there, and directly participated in the [[Battle of Debaltseve]] in [[Luhansk Oblast]]. She also served as press secretary for the Dhozkhar[[Dzhokhar Dudaev International PeacekeepingDudayev Battalion]].<ref name=":3" />

She ran in the 2014 Parliamentary election as a self-nominated candidate in the Suvorovskyi Raion of OdessaOdesa while she was a police officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs; she received only 3.72% of the vote, putting her in ninth place.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cvk.gov.ua/pls/vnd2014/WP407?pt001f01=910&pf7201=14305|title=Центральна виборча комісія України - WWW відображення ІАС "Вибори народних депутатів України 2014"|website=cvk.gov.ua|language=ru-RUuk|access-date=2018-06-21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cvk.gov.ua/pls/vnd2014/WP040?PT001F01=910&pf7331=136|title=Центральна виборча комісія України - WWW відображення ІАС "Вибори народних депутатів України 2014"|website=cvk.gov.ua|language=ru-RUuk|access-date=2018-06-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621194120/http://www.cvk.gov.ua/pls/vnd2014/WP040?PT001F01=910&pf7331=136|archive-date=2018-06-21|url-status=dead}}</ref>

A man masquerading as a [[France|French]] journalist from ''[[Le Monde]]'' opened fire on Okueva and her husband while they were in their car on Kyrylivska Street in [[Kyiv]] on 1 June 2017. In the attack her husband was seriously injured but she was not, and in the process managed to fire four rounds into the attacker; the police were able to detain the suspect and begin proceedingproceedings, in which they initially identified him not as a French journalist but as a citizen of Ukraine by the name of Aleksander Dakar;. heDakar was later identified as Arthur Abdulayevich Denisultanov, who is suspected of killing [[Umar Israilov]], a former bodyguard of [[Ramzan Kadyrov]];. Israilov had accused Kadyrov of supporting human rights violations.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://myrotvorets.center/criminal/denisultanov-kurmakaev-artur-abdullaevich/|title=Денисултанов-Курмакаев Артур Абдуллаевич - Myrotvorets.center|work=Myrotvorets.center|access-date=2018-06-21|language=ru-RU}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2017/06/1/7145726/|title=Поліція: На Подолі намагалися вбити подружжя добровольців|website=Українська правда|language=uk|access-date=2018-06-21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://espreso.tv/news/2017/06/02/napadnyk_na_osmayeva_vyyavyvsya_osobystym_kilerom_kadyrova_zmi|title=Нападник на Осмаєва виявився особистим кілером Кадирова|website=espreso.tv|access-date=2018-06-21|language=uk}}</ref> Arthur Denisultanov was, as part of a prisoner exchange, released and handed over to the [[Donetsk People's Republic]] on 29 December 2019.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://zn.ua/UKRAINE/pokushenie-na-osmaeva-i-okuevu-killera-nedavno-obmenyali-policiya-341856_.html|title=Покушение на Осмаева и Окуеву: киллера недавно обменяли|website=zn.ua|access-date=2020-07-21|date=2020-01-13|language=ru-RU}}</ref>

Okueva was killed in a military-style ambush on 30 October 2017 near the village of [[Hlevakha]], Kyiv Oblast. Unidentified attackers opened fire on the car containing her and her husband while it slowed by a railroad crossing, firing five rounds into her including two fatal rounds into her head. Her husband Osmaev was only injured in the leg and began first aid before calling for emergency services and driving away, but was not successful in his efforts to save her. Spokesman for the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine stated that the Russian military may have been involved, although the identity of the attackers remains unknown.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.rbc.ua/ukr/news/ubiystvo-okuevoy-podrobnosti-1509396973.html|title=Вбивство Окуєвої: подробиці|last=|first=|date=|work=РБК-Украина|access-date=2018-06-21|language=uk}}</ref>

Okueva was buried was buried in [[Dnipro]] in the Muslim section of the Krasnopil cemetery near the [[Dnieper]]<ref name="Okuevadnipro29417036">{{in lang|uk}} [https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/news-musaev-dnipro/29417036.html A memorial sign in honor of Isa Munayev was unveiled in Dnipro], [[Radio Free Europe]] (7 August 2018)</ref> on 1 November 2017, next to the grave of [[Isa Munayev]], where she stated in her will she wanted to be buried. Her family did not attend the public farewell ceremony fearing that the event could become a target for an attack, and the funeral itself took place under armed guard.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://ua.censor.net.ua/resonance/461794/adam_osmayev_ya_mayije_ves_chas_yiyi_trymav_namagavsya_schob_krov_ne_vytikala_ale_tse_nerealno_u_mene|title=Адам Осмаєв: "Я майже весь час її тримав, намагався, щоб кров не витікала, але це нереально. У мене на руках Аміна померла"|last=Цензор.НЕТ|work=Цензор.НЕТ|access-date=2018-06-21|language=ru-RUuk}}</ref>

In November 2019 the [[Kyiv City Council]] decided to rename the ProjectnaProektna Street in Kyiv's [[Shevchenkivskyi District, Kyiv|Shevchenkivskyi District]] after Okueva as part of [[decommunization in Ukraine|Ukraine's national decommunization process]].<ref>{{in lang|uk}} [https://m.tyzhden.ua/post/237586 In Kyiv, they decided to name the streets in honor of Okueva and Abolmasov], [[The Ukrainian Week]] (12 November 2019)</ref> In June 2020 the [[Dnipro city council]] decided a new street in the city's [[Amur-Nyzhnodniprovskyi District]] wilwill be named after Okueva; an earlier attempt to rename the local [[Populus]] Street in her honour had not been supported by its residents.<ref name="7256945AminaOkueva">{{in lang|uk}} [https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2020/06/24/7256945/ Amina Okueva Street will appear in Dnipro], [[Ukrainska Pravda]] (24 June 2020)</ref>

[[Category:OdessaOdesa National Medical University alumni]]

[[Category:Physicians from Odessa‎Odesa]]

[[Category:Ukrainian military personnel of the Warwar in DonbassDonbas]]