«Special operation» in Argun resumedRuslan Isayev, North Caucasus - The third biggest Chechen town of Argun, east of the capital Grozny, has been sealed off again by Russian forces. On Tuesday local administration announced that transport on roads is banned all over Argun and only armoured vehicles are moving around. Besides, "special measures" are carried out throughout the town with federal soldiers encircling houses, conducting searches in residential as well as farm buildings, checking documents and detaining people. Even Argun administration deputy head, Alash Ismaylov, did not avoid detention. He had to spend more than 24 hours in custody before he was released.
The large-scale military operation in Argun began on December 11, as a result of an alleged attack against a military convoy in the northwestern part of the town. Russian soldiers reported they had killed about 20 people in the operation who were considered members of Chechen armed groups by Russian intelligence.
As a matter of fact, even local authorities have no idea of what was exactly going on in Argun during the five days because local officials themselves, like the common residents of the town, were not allowed to leave their houses during the operation. When the "mopping-up" operation culminated, some of the local people were allowed to leave the sealed-off town. As they say, at least three people were thrown out of the local military headquarters, bearing signs of violence. Besides beating severely all the three, Russian soldiers drilled through the feet of one of them.
According to representatives of the Russian military, more than sixty people went through the "filtration" procedure with ten of them having remained in custody so far. Those who sustained harm in the operation came to the administration to file legal actions against federal soldiers, administration sources say. The representatives of Russian intelligence themselves concede that human rights abuses did occur in Argun. Now the cases of looting and beating of local people by Russian soldiers are investigated by representatives of the prosecution right on the spot.
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