Relatives of kidnapped KBR residents ready to protest again

Relatives of the two residents of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR), who had been kidnapped, according to their relatives, by local power agents, have held a rally demanding to take action to find them.

On January 29, in Nalchik, about sixty people gathered in Concorde Square in front of the Government House to express their protest against kidnappings and extrajudicial executions.

Relatives of the missing Alim Kaitaev, a resident of Nalchik, and Ismail Baluev, a resident of the village of Khasanya, were invited to a meeting with Zalim Kashirokov, the head of the office of the head of the republic, and Akhgubekov, the head of the "E" Centre; the latter said that his Centre had nothing to do with disappearances.

Alim Kaitaev disappeared on January 22. His mother Tamara Kaitaeva appealed to the prosecutor's office, the FSB and the MIA. Officials there hinted that Alim could join militants. The mother denies this possibility: "He had no relationship with these people!"

Ismail Baluev disappeared on January 21. Both missing men were believers – they attended Friday namaz, and were well known in the mosque of Nalchik.

People are ready to go out to a new action on any day. "The aim of our action is to be heard. We want they understand us and start taking actions. We move no political demands and set no ultimatums," said Akhmad Kaitaev, Alim's brother.

Valery Khatazhukov, the head of KBR's Human Rights Centre, said that in 2012 relatives of seven missing persons addressed them. All of them were believers, and, according to their relatives, they were shadowed.