New Year sees new violence in ChechnyaRuslan Isayev, North Caucasus – Since the new year began, 11 people have died, 8 disappeared without a trace, and an additional 32 were detained in Chechnya by various power structures. This information was given to our Prague Watchdog correspondent by the Grozny section of the human rights organization Memorial.
According to human rights activists, the intensity of violence in Chechnya escalated during the past week in that so-called special operations were carried out in various parts of the republic, which resulted in people being arrested. And these people mostly have nothing to do with the current military activities in the country.
Inhabitants of the village of Katyr-Yurt are indignant that a recent raid was carried out by the security force of the Moscow-backed Chechen president during which a young man, Yamlikhanov, was detained. According to his fellow villagers, he fought in the first Chechen war (1994-96) but had received amnesty at the start of the second one and stayed home.
In addition, a mass grave was discovered in a field not far from the settlement of Kapustino, in the Naursky district of Chechnya. Local inhabitants found the remains of four people whose bodies showed signs of torture and bore gunshot wounds. Although they notified the authorities about the grave, no officials came to the site. Thus the people had no choice but to bury the bodies in accordance with Muslim tradition. (MG/,ET)
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