Zaur Berezgov, killed by power agents in Kabardino-Balkaria, was not militant, his relatives assert

In Kabardino-Balkaria, Zaur Berezgov, a 30-year-old local resident who was killed on May 8 by power agent was not a militant; in a clash with power agents, he had no arms and did not render any resistance. This was stated by his aunt Elizaveta Shorova. The power agents claim that Zaur Berezgov shot at them and tried to escape.

On May 8, Zaur Berezgov was shot and killed by power agents, although he did not render any resistance and had no arms. This was stated by the appeal of Elizaveta Shorova, the aunt of the killed man, which was sent on May 14 to the Prosecutor of Kabardino-Balkaria, the head of the Investigatory Department of the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) in Kabardino-Balkaria, and to the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial".

According to the woman's appeal, "many witnesses saw everything described above" who "will not be able and does not want to officially declare that during the investigation, since they fear for themselves and their children's lives."

The woman writes that Zaur Berezgov has never been put on the wanted list, he had not criminal records, and recently, he got married. Nevertheless, according to the Elizaveta Shorova's appeal, in last year, power agents began to draw close attention to her nephew that came out in the form of searches of the house, during which nothing had been ever seized.

"Several times, policemen drove Zaur away to some unknown destination and after that Zaur returned beaten," Elizaveta Shorova emphasizes. She adds that because of threats from the police, he was afraid to file a complaint to the investigatory authorities.

According to the information of the National Antiterrorism Committee (NAC), at night on May 9, when power agents attempted to stop his car, Zaur Berezgov tried to escape by opening fire on the power agents.

According to the law enforcers' information, in the car, driven by Zaur Berezgov, they found submachine gun, ammunition, an improvised explosive device (IED) with a magnetic mount, ready for use, and a large number of component parts for manufacture of IEDs.