22:07, 23 November 2006

Chechnya: practice of torturing detainees continues

Representatives of human rights organizations deployed in Chechnya confirm the statement of the Human Rights Watch international organization that kidnappings and tortures of detained persons continue in this Republic.

A report published recently by the Human Rights Watch on continuing violations of human rights in Chechnya caused a negative reaction of local authorities. Nevertheless, representatives of the human rights organizations of the Republic agree with the HRW's conclusions on the situation in the Republic.

"Compared with previous years, the number of kidnappings in the territory of Chechnya has gone down. However, the problem is still very far from its solution," an employee of the Human Rights Centre "Memorial" said. "According to our data, from the start of this year, a total of 158 persons have been kidnapped in the Republic. 59 of them are still missing, and eight have been found murdered. But our monitoring is really covering at most 25-30 percent of the territory of the Republic."

Author: Sultan Abubakarov, CK correspondent