Victims find eyewitnesses of kidnapping of Maksharip Aushev's relatives in St Petersburg

Seeing no results of the official investigation into disappearance in St Petersburg of four natives of Ingushetia, relatives of the widow of human rights defender Maksharip Aushev, who was killed last October, the victims and their relatives held their own inquiry. The witnesses they found told them that disappearance of the above relatives was a kidnapping that looked like a professional violent detention executed by law enforcers.

A criminal case under the article of "murder of two or more persons" was initiated only on January 25, in spite of the fact that the deadline for considering a statement about a committed crime is three days. Now, the criminal case is investigated by the Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office (ICPO) of the Russian Federation for St Petersburg.

For two months the investigation failed to request records of external monitoring video cameras from the supposed place of kidnapping. In the end of February the records were destroyed upon expiry of the storage period. This is stated in the message of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" that arrived to the office of the "Caucasian Knot".

The records of surveillance cameras located in crossroads were preserved and retrieved only thanks to the petition of the victim - Tanzila Dobrieva. When the victims got access to these records, they could easily and independently define the place and time of the kidnapping. The records clearly show how by breaking the traffic rules two light-coloured minivans are chasing the Dobrievs' car. Also, the car is seen in the records, which on the following morning after the crime was shadowing the members of the kidnapped persons' family.

In early February, in the course of investigation the Dobrievs' car was found. It was in the place, which is not covered by video cameras of the centre of traffic monitoring; there was a dent on the car body.

In March, together with a representative of the HRC "Memorial", the victims made a tour of the apartments in the houses located opposite the potential place of kidnapping. Four eyewitnesses of the crime described in detail how a militia operation was held at night on December 26, 2009, opposite their house - detention of passengers of a car, which was of the same model as the Dobrievs' one. The persons who made detention were armed and wore masks and black uniform without distinction signs.

The witnesses said that the car with the kidnapped persons was blocked by a black jeep. Agents in uniform got out of two light-coloured minibuses; they roped the passengers; one was placed on the car hood and handcuffed, another one was thrown on the ground and kicked on his head. Then, the car passengers were put into different vans and taken away. The operation took a couple of minutes. One of the agents made video recording; another one commanded the traffic during the operation.

All the witnesses assert that the incident looked like a precise, concerted and professional force detention organized by law enforcers.

Having eyewitnesses' certificates in hand, the victims' relatives plan to address European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), as the HRC "Memorial" reports.

Relatives of the missing persons gone also addressed the St Petersburg branch of the Human Rights Society "Memorial". According to Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, an employee of the "Memorial" "Yunus Dobriev's wife was summoned, according to her version, to Centre 'E' to clarify the circumstances of the disappearance." "However, she was mainly asked about the blowing up of the STSI post in Ingushetia on December 17. A brother of one of the kidnapped persons is suspected of the explosion. Relatives do not exclude that the disappearance may have to do with the attempts of power agents to receive additional information; that is why, most likely, all the others were detained. Nobody knows what happened with them later," Radio Liberty quotes Ms Sokiryanskaya as saying.