Chechnya: owners of burned down houses gave non-disclosure subscription, victims' relative asserts

Relatives of the young men who went a couple of weeks ago to join militants, whose houses, according to residents of the Shali District, were burned down, signed a non-disclosure commitment about what happened. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told about it by a close relative of one of the suffered families.

The fact that about a month ago in the village of Geldagan, Shali District, law enforcers burned down three houses allegedly in retaliation for the departure of young people to the militants was reported to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by residents of the district themselves.

"In the village of Geldagan they have really burned down three houses. My close relative was among the victims. They were not allowed to take anything out of the house; policemen just drove people out into the street and set the house on fire. They allowed nobody to come close to the burning houses until there was nothing to extinguish. It was done by local law enforcers," said a resident of the Shali District, who asked not to name him.

According to his story, parents of the boys who had gone to the forest, "are now threatened that payment of their pensions and benefits will be stopped; although everyone knows quite well that relatives are in no case guilty that young people go to the forest to join the rebels."

"All the owners of the burned down houses were forced to give written subscriptions that would not tell anyone about the incident. They were also instructed to say that the fires in their homes resulted from short-circuits in electric wiring," said the source of the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Law enforcement officials of Chechnya have resolutely refuted the information about departure of young people to join militants and about the arsons of their relatives' houses, calling it a provocation.