Residents of Chechnya report detentions of shootout casualties' relatives

After the shootout near the village of Martan-Chu, where two residents of Urus-Martan were shot dead, law enforcers detained men-members of their families, local residents said.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 11, according to law enforcers, two young, men born in 1994 and 2001, tried to hijack a car, rendered armed resistance and were shot dead near the village of Martan-Chu.

Law enforcers have detained "all the male relatives" of the casualties, a relative of one of them has reported.

Casualties' relatives and friends are being interrogated, a Chechen law enforcement source has stated.

Umar, a former employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), has doubted the law enforcers' version. In his opinion, it would not be difficult for law enforcers to detain two guys armed with the rifle.

Information is often arriving from Chechnya about special operations, where the only victims are alleged members of the armed underground. This information needs serious verification; however, it is very difficult to confirm or refute it, human rights defenders Oleg Orlov and Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya have noted.

Reports about detentions of relatives of alleged militants in Chechnya have been received earlier too. In particular, after a series of attacks on law enforcers in Chechnya on August 20, local residents reported that policemen had detained men from the families of the participants in the attacks, and interrogated friends of the casualties in the shootout.