16:24, 2 July 2004

Eighty-two Chechen residents disappear this year - Memorial Society

More than eighty civilians have been missing in Chechnya since early 2004. This is what Dmitrii Grushkin, a representative of the Russian Memorial Human Rights Center, said. "One hundred and ninety-four residents have been abducted in Chechnya since early 2004, according to our information. Ninety-seven of them have been released, fifteen have been found killed and eighty-two have been missing," Grushkin said.

He also reported one hundred and forty-one residents of the republic have been killed this year in Chechnya, according Memorial's information. "Sixty-seven of them were civilians, thirty-two were officers of law enforcement and security agencies and another four were representatives of the Chechen administration. Fourteen more dead bodies presumably belong to members of illegal armed formations. The bodies of another twenty-four people have not been identified," Grushkin said.

Source: Memorial Human Rights Center (Moscow, Russia)