Facts about people kidnapped in the past revealed in Kabardino-Balkaria

Khanifa Battayeva, resident of the town of Cheghem in Kabardino-Balkaria, addressed the "Caucasian Knot" to relate that her son Yusuf Battayev, born in 1972, was kidnapped on July 14, 2004 and nothing has been heard of him ever since. "We appealed to the public in the hope that the law enforcement agencies may find him, but the hope diminishes with every passing day," says the victim's mother.

She relates the following about the circumstances of her son's kidnapping. "Someone phoned him on the mobile and asked to come out. I heard him say to someone: "coming, coming." It means he knew the caller.

Neighbours saw how Yusuf in the street was approached by three bulky men in camouflage and masks and, having tied his hands, they put a black plastic bag over his head and forced him into a military UAZ. This happened in July 2004, and we only managed criminal proceedings on the fact of kidnapping my son to be initiated in August. However, there is no result, so far. We even do not know who called him on the mobile, although the investigation, if sufficiently interested in investigating the case, could easily have established it."

Khanifa Battayeva also related that her son Yusuf Battayev was a faithful Moslem, prayed five times a day but did not go to mosque and had no connections with Jama'ats of Kabardino-Balkaria. Nevertheless, he had been repeatedly detained before the kidnapping, armed people often came to their home to make a search. In 2003, he was detained on the suspicion of extremism and terrorism and, although there was nothing to prove the charges, he got a suspended sentence. Yusuf addressed the RF General Prosecutor's Office appealing against ungrounded charges but failed to get the sentence reversed.