11:34, 13 October 2016

In Chechnya, 70 relatives of missing persons get DNA passports

Relatives of missing persons get DNA passports, Grozny, March 2015. Photo by Kazbek Vakhaev, http://www.grozny-inform.ru/news/society/58610/

On October 12, 70 residents of the Chechen Republic got DNA passports. The new documents will help to establish the blood relationship with people disappeared during Chechen military campaigns in case of discovery of their remains.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the process of issuing of DNA passports was launched in the republic in spring of 2013.

On October 12, 70 residents of Chechnya got their DNA passports in the building of the Press House in Grozny.

"The existence of such a document guarantees nearly 100-percent possibility to identify a person by remains of body. During the past three years, we issued DNA passports for about 500 people," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by a staff member of the Chechen Bureau of Forensic Medicine.

There is no exact number of people disappeared in Chechnya during the first and second military campaigns. The database of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) includes names of 3016 people disappeared during the hostilities. According to human rights defenders, the number of disappeared people is much higher.

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

Source: CK correspondents