Chechen authorities to set up commission to count missing persons

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has reported about preparations for setting up a special commission on the persons deemed to be missing, and on making a proper list of them. Activists of some local NGOs are sceptical as to whether this will help in establishing the fate of kidnapped and missing persons.

The need to update the list of missing persons, as Kadyrov said on October 21 during his meeting with Ruslan Alkhanov, Minister of Interior of Chechnya, was felt for a long time. According to his story, the special operation conducted in Dagestan on October 20, was another demonstration of the need to have such commission.

Let us remind you that the special operation was conducted by Chechen law enforcers; local residents were also among the casualties. Mr Kadyrov said that earlier casualties' relatives used to say that their sons had been kidnapped. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told the same by an employee of one of local human rights organizations. According to Kadyrov, the offer to surrender was answered by the persons blocked in the house by a statement that they "want to fight, but when smoke grenades were thrown into the house, they jumped out and were shot dead like partridges."

Chechen President said that it was "not for the first time." "Although parents are well aware that due to their negligence their kids are running around in the woods. But instead of taking actions to bring them back home or to inform the relevant authorities, they prefer to claim that their children had disappeared to nowhere. Thus, I plan to soon set up the commission on missing persons. One of its tasks will be to systematize and verify data on available lists. Once this work is completed, we'll announce the exact list of missing persons. In the end, we'll be able to read out the names of those, whom we should not search as missing persons," said stressed.

He also noted that he would head the commission himself.

According to the authorities, during the two military campaigns in Chechnya, more than five thousand persons are regarded as missing. Activists of some local NGOs believe that these figures could be much higher - over 15,000 persons.

Another NGO activist also notes that often the young people who had been kidnapped by unidentified power agents were later found among liquidated militants.

"Surely, there are cases when relatives announce their sons who left to join militants as missing; however, there are not less facts, when power agents show persons kidnapped and assassinated by them as liquidated militants. However, our leaders avoid raising this issue; without saying about real addressing the issues, associated with the establishment of further fates of the persons kidnapped over the years and reported as missing," said the source.