[RFE/RL] Chechnya's parliament has unanimously elected presidential and government administration head Magomed Daudov as its new speaker. Daudov, aka Lord, succeeds Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov, who died last month.
Daudov, one of Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov's most trusted associates, is a controversial figure. He reportedly fought against Russian forces in the early 2000s under the direct command of radical field commander Shamil Basayev before surrendering in 2004 and pledging his loyalty to Kadyrov. Indeed, Kadyrov himself is said to have told a visiting Russian State Duma delegation in 2009 that Daudov was a former insurgent.
Unconfirmed reports say it was Daudov, then a district police chief, who commanded the operation in June 2006 in which Abdul-Khalim Saydullayev, Aslan Maskhadov’s successor as Chechen Republic Ichkeria president, was killed. He has also been implicated in the detention in February 2010 of human rights activists who sought to help the families of Chechens who had been seized by security forces.
It was Daudov who escorted 17-year-old Kheda Goylabiyeva to her controversial wedding last May to a district police chief old enough to be her father. He was subsequently quoted as advocating the legalization of bigamy within the framework of Islamic law. 
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