HRC "Memorial" reports kidnapping in Chechnya

Ramzan Shaikhaev, who was visiting Chechnya as a guest, was detained for a month by law enforcers without explanations; and on September 9, he disappeared, the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" has informed. His acquaintances believe that Shaikhaev had drawn law enforcers' attention because of his "suspicious" beard.

In March 2012, Shaikhaev was detained in the Moscow Region with his friend, Farid Eldarov, a resident of Dagestan, who was then brutally tortured. According to Eldarov, law enforcers had no claims against him, but they demanded from him to slander Shaikhaev.

Ramzan Shaikhaev, 47, has disappeared in Chechnya, where he came to visit his sick father. According to relatives, on that day Shaikhaev got a telephone call asking him to go outside. He went out and never returned. "There are grounds to believe that Shaikhaev was kidnapped by law enforcers," the website of the HRC "Memorial" writes.

Last summer, Shaikhaev and his wife were already detained by Chechen law enforcers, who did not charge them, but kept Shaikhaev's wife for several days, and him – for a month. The spouses were set free after taking away their car, gold jewellery and other valuables, human rights defenders assert.

In March 2012, law enforcers suspected Shaikhaev of organizing a robbery of a warehouse in Khimki and of being a supporter of the "At-Takfir-Val-Khidjra", an international extremist organization banned in Russia. After Shaikhaev's friend Farid Eldarov refused to slander him, the charges against Shaikhaev were dropped.