CHECHNYA LINKS LIBRARY

Seven abducted in Sernovodsk

Ruslan Isayev, North Caucasus – Seven people from the village of Sernovodsk were abducted on July 18 by members of unidentified forces. The raid took place early in the morning, when armed persons in masks with several armoured personnel carriers began entering the homes of selected local residents.

As a result of the raid the following people were abducted: Tair Inderbiyev, b.1950, pensioner, retired police officer; Pasha Inderbiyev, b.1959 (brother of Tair); Adam Idrisovich Vagapov, b.1974; Anzar Salmanovich Lukayev, b.1977; and also three brothers, namely Shadit Dzhantimirov; Shamsutdin Dzhantimirov; and Shirvani Dzhantimirov.

According to local residents, all the armed men who made the arrests were masked. The special operation seemed to be planned and organised with the soldiers apparently referring to a list of persons liable for arrest, evident in the case of Aslan Arsanukayev.

Arsanukayev was dragged from his house onto the street where soldiers threatened him with weapons, and began interrogating him, asking why he was sleeping in a T-shirt and whom he was expecting that night. Shouting could be heard from an armoured personnel carrier parked on the street with the engine running. Then, indicating Aslan, one of the masked persons was asked “whether this was him”. He answered that, no it wasn’t him. One of the soldiers checked a list for his surname and told the others that a mistake had been made. After that, this same armoured personnel carrier drove off to the house of Anzor Lukayev.

Local police and relatives of the detainees blocked the road out of the village near the ROVD building (District Department of Internal Affairs), so the APC turned around and drove off in the direction of the Sunzhensky Ridge.

Relatives immediately began the search for their loved ones, and have managed to establish that the Inderbiyev brothers are being held at the military base in Khankala.

Tair Inderbiyev, a police officer who retired almost a year ago and who worked for six months in the Sharia court in 1998, is renowned for his honesty and principles and the people of Sernovodsk are deeply angered by the abduction of such a person. In 2001-2002 Anzor Lukayev also served in the Sernovodsk police force.

(U/T)