Known doctor and masseur Khamzat Osmayev abducted in Ingushetia

On January 12, Russian security agents abducted Khamzat Kh. Osmayev, 1954, in the village of Pliyevo, which is a municipal district of the Ingush town of Nazran. According to his relatives and neighbors, Osmayev lived in Grozny before. In 1999, when military operations began there, he and his family left Grozny for the village of Troitskaya, Ingushetia's Sunzhensky district. He opened a room of manual therapy in the village of Pliyevo in 2000. Osmayev have been practicing therapeutic massage for over 30 years. He is renowned as a specialist who helps refugees and poor people free of charge.

On January 12, at about 5 p.m., a white Gazel car without number plates came to the complex of buildings on Oskanova Street where Osmayev's massage room was situated. Seven unknown people in masks and camouflage uniform came out of the car. At that time, Osmayev finished his work and went into the street. He was getting into his Volga car when the strangers took him out of it and forced into the Gazel car. Then the minibus left in the direction of Nazran. Osmayev's abductors spoke Russian without an accent.

Osmayev's relatives say he has received warnings before not to arrive in Grozny as FSB (Federal Security Service) officers are seeking for him. They allegedly have a picture dated back to the early or middle 1990s which recorded him alongside with a known field commander. The picture was supposedly taken during a holiday or a sport event - Osmayev is known as a sportsman, body-builder and expert in massage.

Osmayev's relatives filed a written application with the republican prosecutor's office the same day and turned to the Human Rights Center "Memorial" the next day.