In Grozny, relatives of missing people demand to punish kidnappers

Today, on the International Day of Missing People, relatives of those missing and kidnapped held a rally in Grozny demanding to punish those responsible for kidnappings. The action was attended by about 60 people, the participants told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The action was organized by the public organization "Mothers' Alert".

The action was attended by Milana Bakhaeva, an employee of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" in Chechnya. "Those who had done it [kidnappings] suffered no punishment. They live peacefully; and nobody is going to call them to account. Social and human rights organizations in Chechnya are trying to somehow influence the authorities and move the problem off the ground," Bakhaeva told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The list of missing people in Northern Caucasus has 7570 names, Alexander Mukomolov, the chairman of the peacekeeping mission named after General Lebed, reported in October 2013. Rights defenders believe that the number of missing persons in Chechnya may be much higher than reported by the authorities and reach up to 18-20 thousand people.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.