Alexei Vasilkov: in Northern Caucasus, more than 120 persons kidnapped

Out of 120 cases of kidnappings committed in Northern Caucasus, more than half are committed in Chechnya and North Ossetia. This was reported by Alexei Vasilkov, Deputy Chief of the Department of the General Prosecutor's Office in the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD) on the eve of the International Day of Missing People.

According to the report of Alexei Vasilkov, in the first half of 2013, 133 kidnapped persons were sought, 12 persons were found, and whereabouts of 121 persons are still unknown.

The police did not institute more than 60 criminal cases for a number of kidnappings and disappearances in Chechnya, the RIA "Novosti" reports with reference to Alexei Vasilkov. Those cases were investigated by the Investigating Department of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) for the North-Caucasian Federal District (NCFD).

Alexei Vasilkov has also reported that, according to the information for the beginning of the second half of the year, in the NCFD, 2909 persons are still on the list of missing persons (growth by 1.7%). More than half of them, 1611 persons, are persons missing in armed conflict in the territory of the Chechen Republic.

He has added that the reasons for kidnappings and complaints about disappearances in Northern Caucasus are various "from inducing to marriage and extorting money as ransom to forcing to enter illegal armed formations (IAFs)."

Human rights defenders believe that the number of disappeared persons in Chechnya can be higher than reported by the authorities and can reach 18,000-20,000 persons. Those data were presented in 2011 at the "round table" in Grozny on the issues about kidnapped citizens.