Several people abducted during purges in Chechnya

Officers of security agencies abducted three people in the course of "address actions" in the village of Noviye Atagi, Chechnya's Shali district. "In the morning of October 26, servicemen in masks, who arrived in several UAZ cars without number plates, captured a 14-year-old boy and took him away in an unknown direction. The boy's family name is Taysumov. Soldiers abducted his elder brother a month ago, and another one – last year. This brother, the youngest one, was the last of the three bothers. Nobody knows where he is now and what happened to him," Khizir, a 37-year-old resident of Noviye Atagi, said. "There was another purge, or, as the military called it, "address special operation" in our village on October 24. They took away two people that day. They're Taramov and 50-year-old Shamil Bibulatov, who lives not far from us. As I know, they took Shamil away because he had a beard. And having a beard is a sign of Wahhabism today, no matter if you are a Wahhabi or not. Taramov, cruelly beaten and wounded in his leg, was thrown away on the road between our village and the village of Chechen-Aul the next day. He doesn't know where he was held, who detained him and why. He says there were both Russian and Chechen officers of security agencies."

The Chechen Interior Ministry has refused to give any comments on the matter, claiming that Chechen policemen have conducted no actions in the village of Noviye Atagi recently.