Chechnya sets up united DNA base of relatives of missing persons

To determine the fates of persons disappeared and kidnapped during the war, Chechnya started working on collection of DNA from their relatives. According to official information, during the two military campaigns in Chechnya, lists of missing and kidnapped people contain about 5000 persons; however, according to human rights activists, the figure could be much higher.

Joint work in this direction is conducted by the department of the administration of the leader and the government of the Chechen Republic on cooperation with law enforcement bodies and power agencies, the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) in Chechnya, the Interregional Public Organization "Peace Mission named after General Lebed", and the Chechen Regional Public Organization "Search for Missing Persons".

A representative of the department of the administration of the leader and the government of the Chechen Republic on cooperation with law enforcement bodies and power agencies, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent: "Till present, the republic's forensic bureau has already taken the DNA samples from 100 close relatives of missing persons. Biomaterial samples are taken to create the common base of DNA for further comparison with skeletal remains, found in burial places."

"According to official information, during the two military campaigns in our republic, more than 5000 persons disappeared. However, those figures include only information on those people, whose relatives had filed at that time relevant complaints to law enforcement bodies or human rights organizations. Meanwhile, in early 2000s, not all people had such a possibility at any time," believes the head of a republic's human rights organization, who preferred to remain anonymous.

According to him, during the military operations in the republic's territory, the actual number of kidnapped and missing persons is much higher and can reach up to 20,000 persons.

The source believes that the authorities fail to conduct sufficient work to search for mass graves and identify the persons responsible for committing war crimes in the territory of Chechnya during the military campaigns.