Residents of Chechnya report kidnapping by members of the top brass

A 24-year-old resident of Achkhoy-Martan district of Chechnya was kidnapped last night not far from "Caucasus" federal highway. This news has been reported by the kidnapped young man's relatives who are still unable to find out where he is.

"At night of November, 9, Khajimurat Akhtokhanov, a 24-year-old resident of Achkhoy-Martan district center, was kidnapped by the personnel of a local enforcement agency in Achkhoy-Martan district of "Caucasus" federal highway, at the crossroads of Samashki - Achkhoy-Martan road", a member of a republican human rights organization told a reporter of "Caucasian Knot"

According to this source, the young man was forced out of his car and carried off in an unknown direction. The kidnapped young man's relatives are trying to find out his location and have asked human rights organizations for help.

Our interlocutor says that the residents of Achkhoy-Martan and the young man's people suspect the personnel of a unit of the republican Ministry of Interior Affairs stationed in the district center of this kidnapping. "According to them, Khajimurat for several years had dealt with buyup and resale of mobiles. Neither during the recent period nor before had he been brought to a militia office and had never been suspected of any delinquencies", our interlocutor says.

"Caucasian Knot" has no comments on the incident from law enforcement bodies yet, however local observers state that illegal capturing citizens by members of the top brass has already become an everyday practice in Chechnya.

"The main problem today is that law enforcement agencies do not want or are probably unable to work within legal boundaries. Large-scale punitive operations which were practiced during the first years of the second military campaign have been replaced by so-called "selective mop-ups", a local expert says. 

According to him, local militia and other authorities prefer not to serve a summons on persons suspected of anything criminal but break into one's house at night or seize one somewhere in the street and then bring forward their accusations.

He thinks that to change the situation a full-scale re-attestation of the whole personnel of law enforcement structures is necessary. "The trouble is that there are a lot of odd people in the militia today who on receiving arms, a uniform and the respective certificate consider they are allowed to do anything they like", the expert says.