12:52, 30 March 2004

Five dead bodies with signs of torture found in Grozny

Dead bodies of five men with signs of cruel torture were found in Grozny on March 29. "Dead bodies of five men were accidentally found by locals in the basement of a tumbledown house near a tram depot in the Leninsky district. Both young men and men in years are among the killed. They have not been identified yet. The only thing we can state with certainty is that all the killed men were subjected to severe torture before death. Their bodies have numerous injuries," an officer of the Chechen Interior Ministry said to the Caucasian Knot correspondent. Local residents hold that the killed men fell victims to extrajudicial execution by special operations units of the Russian security structures, which are called "death squadrons" in Chechnya. According to the officer, the case is being investigated by the prosecutor's office.

Author: Sultan Abubakarov, CK correspondent

Source: Caucasian Knot