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Rally in Gudermes seeks public court

Ruslan Isayev, North Caucasus - On Monday, a few hundred people from the Komsomolskoye village blocked the building of the Gudermes administration, claiming to get back the bodies of two killed people from their village and punish publicly the Russian soldiers who committed the killings.

It has been reported that a fourteen-year-old Amkhad Gekhayev and his daughter-in-law Zalina Mezhidova, 24, mother of four children, were returning from their garden on Friday evening when a Russian helicopter started to fire against them on the outskirts of the Komsomolskoye village. Then, the helicopter landed and its crew took the bodies of the young people on board.

The protest meeting holders talked to Gudermes administration head Akhmed Abastov, who came on behalf of Chechnya's pro-Russian administration chief Akhmad Kadyrov. He asked the people to go back home so as not to make the present situation even more strained. He added that the names of the perpetrators of the crime have been found out and the local attorney filed a legal action against them. Besides, Abastov said that Akhmad Kadyrov promised he would personally inspect the investigation of the murder.

The latest events prove that the only way for Chechen civilians to protect themselves against atrocities committed by Russian soldiers is to maintain unity. Only in the district centre Shali, this strategy helped to prevent ten people from being unreasonably detained by federal forces.

However, the situation is far worse in the capital Grozny where people disappear without any traces. A few days ago, a young Chechen died on the Lenin Avenue, in the centre of the capital, when Russian soldiers broke his head by hitting it against the body of their URAL military lorry.

Witnesses claim the soldiers suddenly stopped the vehicle, grabbed a girl and two young men walking on the street. Then, severely beating the people, the soldiers put sacks on their heads and tried to make them get on lorry. Passers-by attempted to help the young people but the soldiers started to fire aiming at their legs. As a result of the beating, one of the attacked young men lost his consciousness. The soldiers picked him up, hit against the truck-body and left the dead body at the place. Then, they forced the girl and the other young man to get on the lorry and rushed away firing from their guns to the air.