Argun residents protest against killing of four civilians detained by Russian soldiersRuslan Isayev, North Caucasus, March 6 – For three days already a protest meeting has been held in the central square of Argun, east of the Chechen capital Grozny, with up to a thousand people participating. The rally comes as a reaction to the deaths of four local people who were killed by Russian soldiers, though the victims had reportedly no relation to fighters. The protesters seek tracking down and bringing those responsible for the killings to justice.
In the morning of March 2, when four young people, the oldest of whom was Beslan Bekhayev, 27, and the youngest Shamil Idrisov, 18, met at their neighbour’s place to help him with building a greenhouse, an armoured personnel carrier with people in camouflaged uniforms approached. Pretending to check documents, the soldiers took the young people to the military headquarters in Argun.
The same evening the corpses of the young people, bearing traces of torture, were handed over to the relatives. It is worth mentioning that one of the victims, Apti Bargayev, had spent two years in a refugee camp in Ingushetia and worked as a bricklayer in Ingush capital Magas. He was to get married on March 10.
A few days ago a mass grave was revealed in Argun with 24 bodies inside. Two of them have already been indentified, namely Mr Yashurkayev and Mr Akhmadov, both local residents.
Representatives of human rights organisations are afraid that soldiers will try to dispose of the corpses to avoid impartial investigation.
Similar detentions take place not only in Argun, but also in neighbouring Mesker-Yurt where eight people were detained and taken away by soldiers last night. |
