Eight Chechens detained, killed

Duba-Yurt, Chechnya, Russia, March 27, 2004: eight residents detained. Serzhen-Yurt, Chechnya, Russia, April 8, 2004: bodies found of people previously detained in Duba-Yurt.

Eight local residents were detained in their houses by officers of an unidentified federal law enforcement or security agency in Duba-Yurt, Shali district, on the night of March 27, 2004:

1. Sharip Khamidovich Elmurzaev, b. 1971, resident at 10 Partizanskaia St.;
2. Idris Said-Khuseinovich Elmurzaev, b. 1974, resident at 23 Rodnikovaia St.;
3. Bai-Ali Abdullaevich Elmurzaev, b. 1968 г. р., resident at 15 Rodnikovaia St.;
4. Isa Imranovich Khajimuradov, b. 1965, resident at 70 A. Sheripov St.;
5. Khusein Imranovich Khajimuradov, b. 1975, resident at 21 Rodnikovaia St.;
6. Lechi Abuiazidovich Shaipov, b. 1960, resident at 36 Podgornaia St.;
7. Zelimkhan Umievich Osmaev, b. 1973, resident at 10 Beregovaia St.;
8. Apti Atsaevich Murtazov, b. 1964.

The law enforcement / security officers came to the village from the direction of Chiri-Yurt by five UAZ-452 ("tablet") vehicles, a Niva vehicle, a Gazel minibus, a UAZ-469 vehicle and two armored personnel carriers. Examinations and detentions in Duba-Yurt were at first sight spontaneous and unsystematic, according to eyewitnesses. The detainees were only asked about their first and last names, and Lechi Shaipov was the only man whose passport was checked. The military behaved rudely and in some cases they used force with regard to both detainees and their relatives. There was at least one robbery episode: the military stole money and women's golden rings in the Shaipov's house. Some other houses were attacked, too, aside from the above-mentioned ones, and another four men were detained; one of them managed to escape, and the military threw the remaining three out of the vehicle on the outskirts of the village.

The relatives of the detained people went after the military column and saw the military go through Chishki bound south, round Starye Atagi and, without making a stop, head for Grozny.

The detainee's relatives came to Shali on the same day, March 17, where they tried to lodge applications to the prosecutor's office and the district police, but their applications were not accepted on the pretext of a day off (it was Saturday).

The next day, on Sunday, March 28, residents of Duba-Yurt in protest obstructed the road going through the village. No one of the leadership paid any attention to the protest.

On Monday, March 29, people (mostly women) again obstructed the road and put up an improvised barricade. Several tens of military men approached them at noon by two armored personnel carriers. They dispersed the women and cleared away the barricade. Government representatives came up in several minutes - the deputy head of administration of the district and officers of the district police and prosecutor's office.

The deputy head of administration of the Shali district, Khasanbek by name, told the relatives of the abducted people that he knew the whereabouts of their family members and he added that nothing wrong had happened to them. He promised they would be released after an examination, in two or three days, and suggested that the people should break up not to aggravate the situation. The people believed his promises and went home.

However, none of the detainees came back home on the third day, April 1. In a week after the abduction, on April 2, residents of Duba-Yurt obstructed the Grozny-Shatoi highway near Chiri-Yurt. Again, they demanded that their relatives and fellow-villagers should be released. Government representatives gave new assurances that they knew the detainees' whereabouts. They promised that at least some of the detained people would soon be back.

It was not possible to establish their whereabouts through the official channels. However, unofficially they were able to obtain an internal reference from the prosecutor's office about the results of an examination conducted at the military base in Khankala where all the eight detainees were (a facsimile of this reference was presented to the press on April 8 at a news conference in Moscow by Human Rights Watch officers).

In the meanwhile, new and new promises were given to the relatives that the detained people would be released as soon as investigation activities were over - last time they said the detainees would be released on April 9 or 10.

* * *

A tractor driver who was going to till land found nine dead bodies on the outskirts north of Serzhen-Yurt on April 9, 2004. Local residents phoned the police and said there was a bomb. They were afraid that law enforcement officers might ignore information about dead bodies, like it happened in early March 2004 when a grave was found on the outskirts of Shali.

In a while, policemen and people from the commandant's office came to the scene. Local residents came, too. Someone tried to capture the bodies using a video camera, but one of the service men took away the cassette.

The bodies were delivered to the Shali district police. No forensic examination was carried out, according to eyewitnesses. In spite that everyone at the district police knew that eight people had been abducted from Duba-Yurt two weeks before, on the night of March 27, and that they were still missing, none of the policemen went to the village to suggest that the relatives of the abducted people should identify them. A strange woman told Duba-Yurt residents about the bodies found near Serzhen-Yurt and the relatives of the abducted people went to the place themselves. There, they identified the eight men.

The missing people were killed by shots in their heads, according to their relatives; each one had the entry wound in his nape. Besides, there were multiple signs of violence on every body. Thus, aside from numerous gunshot wounds, Shaipov had multiple bruises and his fingers were purple with blackened nails. Bai-Ali Elmurzaev had a deep hole in place of his right eye. Presumably, they had been killed not long before the bodies were found - there were no distinct sings of decay, no putrid smell could be sensed and their wounds still bled.

No one identified the ninth man that day, so his body stayed at the district police.

However, his identity was established later, too; it was Khasan Said-Alvievich Abdulmezhidov, a native of Duba-Yurt resident in Grozny's Oktiabrskii district. Law enforcement / security officers had taken him away from his house on the night of April 2.

The funeral of the killed local residents occurred in Duba-Yurt on April 9. No government representative attended the funeral.

Eyewitnesses of the detention in Duba-Yurt give evidence

Aiant Sataeva, the mother of Sharip Elmurzaev:

"We had a white Gazel vehicle here. They entered every room. They closed the door to our room. I wanted to get out, but they started to beat me and pushed me back. They didn't allow me to enter the room. Didn't ask anything and didn't take his passport. Took him barefoot."

Louise:

"They took the eight men and threw away three others on their way. My cousin who is above fifty, my younger brother who is twenty-six, and the third one who is our relative, too, he is twenty-five. Sharip is a taxi driver.

At once, on Saturday morning, we came to Shali to lodge applications, but they didn't accept our applications either at the prosecutor's office or at the police station; they said they had a day off. The head of administration was indignant, too, but he wasn't with us that time. Some people came to us yesterday from the Shali district administration, and they told us unofficially that they were in Khankala. They told us not to worry. When the women arranged the barricade yesterday, military men came by two armored personnel carriers, dispersed the women, pushed them so they fell. Then some representatives of Shali's government institutions came up. They sort of stopped the military. The women talked to them and break up only after that. Because they promised they would be released in two or three days."

Salambek, the brother of Sharip Elmurzaev:

"They scared the children and kicked my wife in the stomach. There's a footprint left there, on her chemise. People came from the prosecutor's office, they took that chemise. And she was in such a state that she even can't remember how it happened."

Lisa Khajimuradova, the mother of the brothers Khajimuradov:

"They took my two sons away from me. Not as people were they taken, but as hardcore enemies!

Yesterday, I talked to the deputy head of administration of Shali, Khasanbek. He said, 'We give you a one hundred-percent guarantee that your children are safe and sound. They are being worked with. We give you a guarantee they will be released in two or three days.'

There was another guy with him, Losev. It looks like he is deputy commandant. He also gave us his word. They didn't tell us where they were. There was some Magomed with him, whether the deputy police chief or the police chief. Well, be that as it may, he is a chief all the same. He was strongly against us standing there. The women had stood there since Sunday. I wasn't there though, I am unwell, after an operation, I was there only yesterday. And yesterday, they came by two armored personnel carriers, scattered our barriers and began to push the women about and away, they beat one of them that showed particular resistance. They all were in masks.

Then I told one, 'May I talk to you?' 'Well, you may, why not?' 'Your guys steal our children and you don't keep an eye on them, so why have you come in masks now in broad daylight?'

In about five minutes later, that delegation came, from Shali. They put the one troop carrier a little closer and the other one a little farther at once.

The women complained of the military, but they soon saw they all were at one. Those had just paved the way for them.

My younger son didn't take a step either in the first or the second war. He's been ailing since childhood. The elder one does not match in age already. But they have been taken away like now before, too. They beat them with metal sticks for two days in Atagi, at the hen house. Twenty-seven guys were taken from here that time. Will a guilty guy ever sleep at home with children?

A two-year-old child was asleep with the elder son. When they grabbed him, the child got so scared we were hardly able to calm him down. They pushed me so I rolled under the bed. He must have neither a father, nor a mother.

There were 'tablets' in our street. None had a license plate. Our street is illuminated very well, and we tried to notice license plates, but there wasn't any. Losev says, 'Write to the prosecutor's office.'

But what can I write? The license plate and the name? Well, we wrote after all, but I don't believe in these complaints.

The mother of Idris Elmurzaev:

"At two p.m. they burst into. Our gate wasn't closed. My husband and I were asleep. My husband has no leg and I am a second-category invalid, too. I learnt about it when they had already carried them away. They used bad language. They didn't even ask about his passport.

They had taken him away before and he'd got a concussion of the brain and a jaw fracture and his head had been swollen all over - this had been before when twenty-seven guys had been taken; they'd beaten them all using metal sticks.

They called each other by two-way radios only as '02, 03.' They had sniper rifles.

I asked one in Chechen, 'Where are you from?' He answered me in Russian, 'Go to the district police.'

They didn't even allow me to turn on the light. He did it himself. My seventeen-year-old son was asleep on the sofa, he looked at him and then threw him down on the floor. Then, at once, he shouted, 'Turn off the light!'..."

Larissa, the wife of Bai-Ali:

"It was at two p.m. that they came in. He had nothing on, save for his underwear. They didn't allow him to get dressed. They beat right on his kidneys. Scared the children, leveled guns at them. Beat the mother. Her blood pressure rose. His kidneys hurt, he had undergone medical treatment, and he had had a high temperature. He always has a high temperature. They didn't take the passport, only asked his surname. There was a military-color 'tablet' here."

Louise, the wife of Isa Khajimuradov:

"They were looking for one, he was able to jump out the back window. They next wanted to take his younger brother. They took him out already, but then phoned somewhere, threw him back into the yard and left again. Came to others. There's an aged one, too. They said, 'Open the door!' And he thought someone was joking and answered, in Chechen, 'What do you want?' They took him out, put him down on the concrete and beat him. He then showed his passport and they let him go.

They next gathered at the crossroads where they had left their armored personnel carriers and went away through Chishki."

Zulpa, the mother of Osmaev:

"They didn't tell us anything, they simply asked where he was. He was asleep in the room. They first asked his younger brother his name and he told them; then they asked where his second brother was. They didn't even ask about the ID. He had never been taken away before, there had been no grievances against him. My children had not taken part in anything."

Musa, the uncle of Shaipov:

"It was two p.m. I was watching television. He was asleep on the floor. They jumped in, I had been able to open the door. They at once set a gun against my stomach, struck me three times or so and put me down on the floor, my face down. Asked my last name, first name and patronymic, then said, 'No, not the right guy.' Then they said by radio, 'Sixth calling third. We've picked up everything here.'

They didn't allow either to get dressed or to put on footwear. Took his passport. He is with the Agriculture Ministry, brings flour, grain from the Stavropol territory. He had money on him. At least eight thousand rubles. Maybe, thirty or forty. He provides fuel for everyone, after all. They threw his ailing father, a sight invalid, down from his bed. My wife cried, I twitched, and one of them trod on my head, saying, 'I'll now shoot you like a dog.'

They are having her at gunpoint, but she is crying all the same. They took 900 rubles from me and the wife's two golden rings. Put off the light on the post. Broke the lamp in the yard. They went by grey 'tablets.' They had no license plates. Three vehicles were about 50 meters away from each other. A Niva vehicle was farther off.

They say it had one license plate at the front and another at the back. There were eight vehicles overall: five 'tablets,' one Gazel, one Niva, a UAZ and two armored personnel carriers. They passed Chishki and Starye Atagi. They were noticed there - they didn't stop at the mill. I brought here people from the Federal Security Service, military prosecutor's office, Shali district police and public prosecutor's office yesterday. They photographed everything, called on every yard. Took the guys' pictures. The investigator explained that when they come to Khankala, they show them the people, but give some other surnames. If they have their pictures, they will recognize them. His name is Alexander."

April 20, 2004