People protest relatives “disappearance“ in Ingushetia Timur Aliyev, North Caucasus - About 200 people from the Republic of Ingushetia staged a rally today next to the road that connects Nazran with Magas, demanding to know the whereabouts of their relatives.
The demonstrators held signs stating, "Free Our Relatives Now!"; "Tell Us Where Our Kidnapped Relatives Are"; "Zyazikov, Stop the Terror of Your Nation Unleashed by Special Services."
"We gathered here to learn where our loved ones had been taken and who were the abductors. We want to let President Putin know what’s going on around here." This statement was made to our Prague Watchdog correspondent by Magomev Yandiyev, whose son Timur was abducted two days ago (see PW's report.
The protesters said that during the past two weeks, 21 people have been kidnapped by unknown armed and masked men in Ingushetia. "We have no idea where they are or who are the abductors," said Yandiyev.
Another participant, Magomed Mutsolgov, said that his brother was kidnapped in Karabulak last December; men in military uniforms and masks shoved him into a Niva car and took off.
"The policemen who stopped the car at a checkpoint and saw the abductors claimed that they were members of the Federal Security Service (FSB) working in Ingushetia. We contacted all the forces, the presidents of Russia and Ingushetia, the Prosecutor's Office and the FSB, but were unable to find out who kidnapped him, what crime he’s accused of or where he was taken," he said.
Mutsolgov added that everyone had denied their involvement in his disappearance. "However, via payments and relatives they finally told us that he’s probably in Grozny at Khankala, Russia's military base.
All this reminds me of 1937, when people suddenly disappeared off the streets and no court proceedings or investigations were ever held. Special services operate here like bandits."
The rally on the outskirts of Nazran continued until the police and Deputy Interior Minister Ziyaudin Kostoyev arrived. He asked all the protesters to disperse and promised to personally look into these abduction cases.
However, only after the police threatened to forcibly break it up did the rally finally end.
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· Photographs from the rally
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