22:07, 21 November 2006

Human rights activists: fewer kidnappings in Chechnya now

In the recent months less people have been kidnapped in Chechnya, however the Republic's authorities have failed so far to eradicate the problem completely, the human rights activists from the "Memorial" Russian Centre have stated. "Basically, we note that the number of kidnappings in the Chechen Republic has decreased, but the problem is still actual," Dmitry Grushkin, "Memorial" representative, told on Tuesday.

"This year, 158 residents have been kidnapped in the territory of the Chechen Republic. 78 of them were released, eight found murdered, 13 were on their trial, and 59 persons are still missing," he reported referring to the monitoring data.

Mr. Grushkin told that since 2002 till November 2006, a total of 1965 residents were kidnapped in Chechnya, the "Interfax" reports. "Out of this number, 693 persons were released, 190 were found dead, 36 are on trial and 1046 are missing," the "Memorial" representative reported.