Dagestan: wife of Alexei Tarasenko, killed in special operation, testifies his non-involvement with militants

Karim (Alexei) Tarasenko, who was killed during a special operation on March 31 in Makhachkala, was guilty of nothing and had no relation to the armed underground, stated his wife, Khalida Badalova.

"He wasn't registered at the police; the district policeman has never come to us; and my husband had no relation to the armed underground. Karim was breadwinner for four persons; we have three minor children. My husband worked all day long at a construction site; but they killed him on March 31 and then announced that he was a rebel. This is a common tactic in Dagestan; now it's impossible to prove the truth," Ms Badalova told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

She described what had happened on the day of the tragedy. "Until 4 p.m. on that day, together with my husband we attended various public establishments. There are respective records and even video records everywhere. We returned home; then I went out to make a payment for leasing the store. Already on my way I received a call from my elder sister who was about to visit us. She said that our house was surrounded by power agents. I called my husband. He, suspecting nothing, was reading the Koran to children. Then I heard some noise, screaming and my husband's voice: 'Don't shoot, children are in the house!' I ran up to the place. One of the power agents of Slavic appearance asked me to contact my husband and ask him to surrender. I asked him how to do it, but he remained silent. They didn't need my husband; they needed a dead man. Why hadn't they detained him alive during the day, when we were in town?" the woman asked.

She said that her husband's relatives took the body. "The body was returned to us only recently, and I counted 16 bullet holes on the back," said Badalova.

Gulnara Rustamova, co-chair of the public organization "Pravozaschita" (Human Rights Defence), gave other details of the incident to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "My friends call me and said that a special operation was about to start in a house with a father of two children inside. I immediately went there and managed to agree with power agents that I'd go in and drive out the children. One of the power agents said that they had tried to persuade the man to surrender, but he went to the balcony and opened fire, and that most likely he was no longer alive," said Rustamova.

When she walked into the flat, she heard a child's cry. "I knocked; a girl in tears opened the door; she was crying and kept repeating: 'They killed him, he died, he said: 'Forgive me for the sake of Allah; now I'll go out to the balcony; but you shouldn't go out of the room; don't follow me.' I went into the kitchen and saw a young man aged about 25 lying there with no signs of life; he had a big wound in his head; a pistol was beside him," said Rustamova.

She told the agents that the man was most probably dead; but when the latter entered the flat, shots were heard from there. "When the shooting stopped, power agents came up to me and started accusing me that I had deceived them. They asserted that as soon as they entered the flat, the man started shooting. I was shocked, because a man with a broken head can't open fire. Before, power agents had never believed me, but here they just pretended to believe. When one of them told me that it was my last action, everything became clear: this was an elementary provocation," Ms Rustamova was indignant.

At the same time, she noted the correct behaviour of law enforcers. "They were very polite with me. In my presence they asked the hostess about the valuables available in the flat. She was returned her husband's silver ring, which he had on his finger, and brought to her all the money and documents. No one was rude; they talked quietly. The investigator made the necessary records, and all the people were released home," said the human rights activist.

The press service of the Dagestani MIA has reported that they have no information about the casualty and the course of the special operation.