CHECHNYA LINKS LIBRARY

Mop-up takes place in Martan-Chu

By Ruslan Isayev

MARTAN-CHU, Chechnya - A targeted mopping-up operation took place on Thursday in the village of Martan-Chu in the Urus-Martanovsky district in which military vehicles and a large number of soldiers took part.

The residents said that the soldiers entered individual houses and checked documents of every occupant there. The operation lasted several hours, but no one was arrested.

The village, which lies at the foothills of the mountains in the south, was subjected to similar operations in the past during which people disappeared.

For example, relatives of Lyoma Mesayev and Bislan Saydayev have been officially trying for more than two years to discover the whereabouts of these two men. Although they were taken out of their homes and driven off by Russian soldiers in December 2002, the official investigation was discontinued because the abductors were allegedly unknown.

However, there is a check-point between Martan-Chu and the district town of Urus-Martan and it stands to reason that the men in charge there should have been able to shed some light on who abducted those two victims that day.

The relatives of Mesayev and Saydayev sued the District Prosecutor's Office, accusing them of doing nothing about this matter. The court acknowledged that action had been taken in this case, but refused the claimants' request to view the documents.

(T/E)