Abductions still underway in Chechnya

At about 11 p.m. on 4 March, unknown people in masks and camouflage uniforms burst into the house at 31 Khachukayeva Street in Achkhoy-Martan, says the Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship. Threatening people in the house with weapons, they forced them out with no warm clothes and footwear on and took away without indicating the destination. Abducted were Mustafa Khadisov, b. 1976, his brother Shamil Khadisov, b. 1983, Rizvan Khodzhayev, b. 1983, Martan Khamurzayev, b. 1983, Akhmed Khamastkhanov, b. 1977, Khasan Zavliyev, b. 1975, and Khamzat Solsanov, b. 1977.

Their relatives who came to the local police department were not allowed to enter. They were told the above-mentioned people had really been detained but they were not in the building because they had been taken to Grozny. Yet four of the detained men (Shamil Khadisov, Khamzat Solsanov, Akhmed Khamastkhanov, and Khasan Zavliyev) were later released from the department. All the four were severely beaten.

The whereabouts of the other detained men remain unknown. Mustafa Khadisov's parents say they have been delivered from the police department to the Achkhoy-Martan central district hospital for medical aid one or two times since the detention. Anonymous witnesses say the young men were beaten beyond recognition.

One member of the Khadisov family, Muslim Khadisov, b. 1978, was already abducted in 2001. He has since been missing.