Russian soldiers conduct "mop-up” in Serzhen-Yurt
By Umalt Chadayev
SERZHEN-YURT, Chechnya - At dawn on January 23, Russian soldiers arrived in the village of Serzhen-Yurt in the Shali district in a Ural truck, four UAZ vehicles and an armoured personnel carrier. They blockaded one of the private houses and conducted an unsanctioned search in it.
"Russian soldiers arrived in the village at about 7am. They broke into the house of Osmayeva, a local resident who lives by herself with four children, and carried out searches there. Not finding anything, the soldiers left. However, towards 9am they returned and searched the house a second time," a resident of Serzhen-Yurt has reported by telephone.
"Some time after that, the soldiers left again. When it was closer to dinner time they returned and began to carry out passport checks in the village. The checks are continuing right at this moment. Soldiers are going from door to door, demanding to see people’s passports. We don’t yet know whether they’ve detained anyone in the process,” he says.
According to the resident, yesterday evening the corpse of a man who had been murdered was discovered on the edge of the village. "A young man’s murdered body was found on the outskirts. He is said to have been a resident of the town of Shali, apparently working in the security forces. Also, in the village itself another man was found in a school yard. He had been badly beaten, and his hands were tied. Today’s ‘mop-ups’ in our village are most likely connected with these events," the resident considers.
Translated by David McDuff.(A/MD,T)
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