Kabardino-Balkarian resident claims kidnapping of his son and nephew

Today, in the village of Dugulubgei of the Baksan District of Kabardino-Balkaria, Murat Abazov and Arthur Abazov were kidnapped. This was reported by Eduard Abazov, a resident of the republic, who appealed to law enforcement agencies and human rights defenders, asking to help locate whereabouts of his son and nephew.

Today, at about 11:00 a.m., in the village of Dugulubgei, power agents kidnapped Murat Abazov, born in 1989, and Arthur Abazov, who travelled by a VAZ-2107 car of white colour. This was stated by Eduard Abazov in his complaint.

"According to numerous witnesses, the car of my nephew was blocked by Ural military vehicles and UAZ Hunter armoured car, there were also cars with tinted windows without the state registration number plates," Eduard Abazov states. According to him, Murat and Arthur were forced into a Gazel car of yellow colour and driven away to some unknown destination.

Relatives of the kidnapped men reported on the kidnapping to the Baksan of the Inter-District Investigatory Division of the Investigatory Department of the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) in the republic; however, till present, they are unaware of the whereabouts of the young men. Meanwhile, according to Eduard Abazov, Murat suffers from epilepsy, and Arthur is diagnosed with episyndrome with severe headaches.

"Taking into account the form of 'detention' of Murat Abazov and Arthur Abazov, which can only be classified as a kidnapping, we really fear that our children will be subjected to using of illegal methods of investigation, torture and coercion of confessions and self-incrimination, slander other persons," writes the man in his appeal to the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), the Prosecutor of the KBR, the Chief of the Investigatory Department of the ICRF in the KBR, the organization "Amnesty International", the Human Rights Centre of the KBR, and the Human Rights Centre "Memorial".

The relatives of the kidnapped men request to conduct checking into the fact of the incident, reveal the whereabouts of the young men, ensure the legitimacy of investigatory and operational activities against Murat and Arthur Abazov with observance of the right to effective defence.