18:00, 9 September 2009

Militia disperses residents of Dagestan protesting against abductions

Dagestan, Derbent. Photo by www.flickr.com/photos/verbatim, Allie Verbovetskaya

On September 8, about two hundred residents of Derbent in Dagestan blocked the central street of the city. The reason of this protest was kidnapping of Sirazhudin Shafiev committed on that very day. As reported by Svetlana Isaeva, head of the organization "Mothers of Dagestan for Human Rights", Shafiev's relatives suspect that he was kidnapped by power agents.

"Two hundred persons blocked the central street of the city. They wanted to know why Shafiev was taken away. They were violently dispersed. Some of them were beaten, others detained and brought to militia station," said the human rights defender.

She has added that on September 6 in the same district three persons were kidnapped under a similar scenario. "A girl of 19 was also kidnapped," Ms Isaeva has noted.

She remarks that in Dagestan the count of kidnappings is on the rise. In total, from February to August 2009, according to the "Mothers of Dagestan", 25 persons were kidnapped. "I don't have data for January, as nobody addressed us in that month," Ms Isaeva explained.

Author: Alexander Baklanov

Source: CK correspondent