Chechnya: power agents kidnap relatives of well-known lawyer

At night on July 16, in the Shatoy District of Chechnya, workers of power agencies kidnapped and took away in unknown direction two local residents - close relatives of the well-known Chechen lawyer Ilyas Timishev, who is representing the interests of suffered residents of the Republic both in local courts and in the European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has learnt about it from the relatives of the family.

Meanwhile, Nurdi Nukhazhiev, Ombudsman for human rights in the Chechen Republic, made his comments on the incident and stated that the information about kidnapping Yunus and Aslambek Timishevs "has nothing to do with reality." "It is established that Mr Timishev's nephew was detained because of available operative information about his probable ties with IAF (illegal armed formations). Now, the detainee is in the Shatoy ROVD (District Interior Unit) and participates in investigatory actions," the Chechen Ombudsman asserted in his interview to the "Interfax".

A member of one of local human rights organizations believes that detention of Ilyas Timishev's brother and nephew is an attempt to put pressure on him. "As far as I know, Ilyas (Timishev) has won several cases in local courts concerning non-payment of the so-called "combat" money to Chechen militiamen. A complaint on one of such cases is in the Strasbourg Court. Possibly, this is the way, by which the "agencies" try to force Ilyas to recall this complaint," the correspondent's interlocutor said.