12 January 2007, 23:46
Chechnya resident blamed of taking part in Beslan school capture will sue the "MK"
Ruslan Demilkhanov, 30, resident of the Starye Atagi village of the Groznenskiy Rural District of the Chechen Republic, is trying to bring Vadim Rechkalov, journalist of the "Moskovskiy Komsomolets" ("MK") newspaper, to responsibility. In December 2006, the paper published his article "33rd Beslan Militant," where the journalist tried to trace the fate of Yunus Matsiev who had taken part, according to Deputy Torshin, chair of the parliamentary commission, in capturing the Beslan school in September 2004. A two-page spread of the paper placed a photo of the allegedly searched militant.
The Russian-Chechen Information Agency has reported that actually the photo depicted Ruslan Demilkhanov, a resident of the Starye Atagi village, a teacher at the secondary school No. 1. The man is puzzled with the way his photo has got into the hands journalists Rechkalov and on what grounds the author of the article asserted that the man in the photo was Yunus Matsiev, a militant.
After the publication in the "Moskovskiy Komsomolets," the members of the Demilkhanov family are seriously concerned with Ruslan's destiny. They fear that any moment he may be detained in the course of a routine clean-up ("zachistka"). The man is going to restore his honest name at the court. The accident has abruptly worsened Ruslan father's health, his mother and sisters are worried about his life.
