Elderly woman's story puzzles authorities of Azerbaijan and Chechnya

For the third week, the Azerbaijani and Chechen authorities cannot identify a 104-year-old woman found in the Goranboy District of Azerbaijan. The woman voiced her desire to leave for Chechnya after Ramzan Kadyrov had promised to help her.

On December 23, policemen found a helpless woman 400 kilometres west of Baku. She introduced herself as Madina Alieva, a native of Dagestan and an ethnic Chechen. The woman was placed to a hospital and three days later she was transferred to a shelter of the public association "Temiz Dunya" (Clean World) in Baku.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) for Azerbaijan sent inquiries to Dagestan and Chechnya. However, the law enforcement bodies of both republics replied that they found no registration of any woman, born in 1913, with such a name.

The Azerbaijani MIA does not exclude that in view of her old age, the woman has problems with her memory.

The woman speaks three languages, including Chechen, Russian and Azerbaijani, reported Mekhriban Zeinalova, the leader of the NGO "Clean World".

Vadim Dombrovsky, an assistant to the head of the shelter "Mother Teresa's Sisters" at the Catholic Church in Baku, has noted that Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov instructed him to visit the 104-year-old Chechen woman and help her, including in moving to her homeland.

"According to some information, there are some documents confirming that the woman was born in Russia," Vadim Dombrovsky noted.

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