Residents of Chechnya complain about detention of six fellow villagers

Law enforcers have refused to explain the reasons for the detention of six villagers in the Shelkovskoy District of Chechnya and do not allow relatives to visit them, fellow villagers of the detainees report.

According to the villagers, six men were detained in the village of Borozdinovskaya yet on July 12.

"No one is aware of the reasons for their detentions, and relatives are not allowed to enter the police station. My nephew is among the detainees ... He never had any problems with the police," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by a local resident, who introduced himself as Akhmed.

The relatives of the detained men fear that law enforcers will torture the detainees and force them to defame themselves.

"If someone is taken to a police station, they will surely knock out a confession needed by law enforcers. A man will declare himself a militant or a drug addict and will confess to anything," Akhmed added.

There are no unjustified detentions in Chechnya, stated Ramzan, a staff member of the Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).

"As soon as someone is detained, relatives make a fuss and claim the police detained a person illegally ... But such things happened in the early 2000s, when there were no normal law enforcement bodies. If someone is detained that means they would investigate the case. If a person is guilty, he will be persecuted, and if not he will be set free," said the police officer.

About 700 people live in the village of Borozdinovskaya, and about 90% of them are ethnic Avars. In 2005, fighters of the "Vostok" (East) battalion, led by Sulim Yamadaev, were accused of attacking that Chechen village. Then a 77-year-old man was killed and 11 people were kidnapped.