Female NCO employee from Chechnya goes missing in Astrakhan Region

Gistam Sakaeva, a native of Chechnya and an activist of the non-commercial organization (NCO), engaged in defending women's rights, has disappeared on the border of Kazakhstan with the Astrakhan Region, while in Chechnya a week ago she was searched for by a local district policeman.

Sakaeva was crossing the Russian-Kazakh border at night on November 1. She managed to tell her girl-friend that her passport was taken away from her at the checkpoint, and she was held for more than an hour there, the "OVD-Info"* human rights project has reported citing her girl-friend.

Gistam Sakaeva was the founder of the Chechen charitable organization "Doveriye" (Confidence), and in 2008 received the "Voice of Courage" award from the NGO "Women's Commission to Help Children and Refugee Women". Sakaeva herself had faced violence in her family, and during the Chechen wars she was "twice forced to leave her home and seek refuge in Ingushetia and Dagestan," the "Voice of America"* has reported.

In the social network, Sakaeva indicated her workplace as the British NCO "Centre for Peace Building and Social Development" (CPSD), whose goal is "building capacity for reconciliation in Northern Caucasus."