AP Reporter Beaten in ChechnyaMOSCOW (AP) - An Associated Press reporter was detained, beaten and held in a covered pit overnight by Russian troops sweeping Chechnya's capital for rebels. The treatment was similar to that meted out to Chechens daily by Russian forces trying to regain control of the breakaway republic. The incident came amid tight security to ward off anticipated rebel attacks on Wednesday's anniversary of Chechnya's 1991 declaration of independence. Reporter Ruslan Musayev, an ethnic Chechen, was buying food at Grozny's central marketplace Tuesday afternoon when Russian troops stopped him and demanded his documents. Musayev's passport does not show him as registered as a resident of Grozny, so the servicemen took him to a military base at Khankala. Troops often use Russia's strict residency registration laws to detain people, usually fighting-age men, in Chechnya. Musayev did not have documents identifying him as a reporter. Musayev said he was then beaten, suffering multiple bruises and damage to his lower ribs. He was led to a covered pit dug into the ground around the military airfield at Khankala, where he spent the night with four other detained Chechen men. Wednesday morning, an officer demanded to know what Musayev had of value, Musayev said. Musayev turned over $600 he had hidden in his clothing and his gold watch. He was then put on a military truck, taken to the border with the neighboring Russian region of Ingushetia to the west and released. Musayev, who covers Chechnya as a cameraman, photographer and reporter for the AP, has been detained briefly in the past, as have several Russian and foreign journalists covering the year-old war. One of the other men in the pit with Musayev, Khasan Ismailov, said it was the third time he had been held there.
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