In Lithuania, house of relatives of Gataevs, natives of Chechnya, searched

In the Lithuanian city of Kaunas, the house of relatives of Malik and Khadizhat Gataev was searched; human rights activists find it to be illegal.

Finland, where the Gataevs applied for political asylum last year, refused to deport them to Lithuania, which demanded it. Till the end of March the couple was in custody in Finland.

At present, Malik and Khadizhat are at large in Finland; however, now the authorities of Lithuania have exposed their interest in Malik's brother Zaur, who lives in Kaunas. Trying to find him, the police came to Liudmila Komissarova, sister of Zaur's wife Yulia; having not found Zaur there, policemen searched the house.

"Since autumn 2008, when a criminal case was opened against the Gataevs, the house was searched many times," says Chelysheva. "They all had little in common with the law: Lithuanian power agents come whenever they want and take away whatever they would."

In March, Malik and Khadizhat, while still in the Finnish prison, addressed the President of Lithuania. Their letter was caused by the arrest of their pupils by the Lithuanian police. "I sent the Gataevs' open letter after the arrest of their two adult pupils to the President of Lithuania and Speaker of the Seym. An answer came from the latter. The committee on human rights reacted to the reported facts and addressed the Children's Ombudsman and in the State Office of Public Prosecutor of Lithuania demanding that they investigate the facts of breaking the law by law enforcers. Let's see what follows," Ms Chelysheva said.