Resident of Chechnya to stand trial on charges of abducting Doku Zavgaev's sister

Ruslan Akharashev, a resident of Chechnya, will be tried on charges of abducting back in 1997, the sister of the former head of the republic Doku Zavgaev.

"The prosecutor's office has approved the indictment against Ruslan Akharashev, 41, a resident of Chechnya, who 14 years ago committed a crime envisioned by part 2, Article 126, of the Russian Criminal Code (kidnapping a human by a group of persons by previous concert). The case has been sent to the Nadterechny District Court for consideration on the merits," the Prosecutor's Office of the Chechen Republic said on November 9.

According to the investigation, in October 1997, Akharashev, being a member of a criminal grouping of ten persons, abducted in the Nadterechny District an elderly woman, a sister of Doku Zavgaev. The kidnappers kept the woman until July 1999, when her relatives gathered and not paid the ransom of 20,000 US dollars.

"The criminals were constantly transporting the elderly women from one district to another and kept her in basements. During the imprisonment the woman lost 70 kilos of weight and looked literally as a walking skeleton. For participation in the crime Akharashev received 700 US dollars, which in those days was quite a serious sum," said a law enforcement officer.

According to investigators, Ruslan Akharashev is facing a long prison term for his participation in the abduction, despite the fact that the crime was committed 14 years ago.