People from Starye Atagi bring burnt corpses to GroznyRuslan Isayev, North Caucasus, March 13- A mass rally is being held in Grozny with about 2,000 people protesting in front of the building of Chechnya’s pro-Moscow administration against the killing of innocent villagers from Starye Atagi, some 20 kilometres south of the Chechen capital.
Three days ago, four residents of Starye Atagi were killed by Russian soldiers who were conducting a “mopping-up” operation there, eyewitnesses said. Soldiers tied the people inside one of the local deserted houses and burnt them.
Later, the same group of servicemen, on an armoured personnel carrier, ran over a Zhiguli car with three Starye Atagi villagers inside. Then, the soldiers torched the damaged car. Relatives of the victims said none of them had anything to do with Chechen fighters.
All the seven burnt corpses have been transported to the protest rally in Grozny. The protesters from Starye Atagi are being joined by people from various villages around Chechnya as many of them feel victims of atrocities committed by Russian soldiers during “mopping-up” operations.
The victims’ relatives filed a suit at the Prosecution of the Chechen Republic. Vsevolod Chernov, the republic’s Prosecutor General, said all suits would be investigated soon. The protesters, however, refuse to break up, claiming they do not believe much that the Russian soldiers responsible for the killings will be brought to justice.
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