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Families bury teenage guerrillas killed in southern Chechnya

By Ramzan Akhmadov

CHECHNYA – The families of four young men killed during an armed clash in Chechnya’s Shatoysky district on February 15 have succeeded in obtaining the return of their bodies. Yesterday all four received Muslim burials in local cemeteries.

A relative of one of the dead men told Prague Watchdog’s correspondent that the bodies of Ruslan Seriyev, Vishan Yedilbayev, Zelimkhan Shuipov and Lyoma Khamzalatov were brought to the republic on the night of February 21 from the city morgue in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia, where they had been taken by police on February 16, despite relatives’ protests. For several days the families had unsuccessfully sought the release of the bodies in order to bury them.

"On the night of February 15 we were informed by telephone that Vishan had been killed. It was suggested that we should go to the Shatoysky district police headquarters in the morning so that identification procedures could be carried out," one of 18-year-old Vishan Yedilbayev’s close relatives, a resident of Grozny's Staropromyslovsky district, says. Yedilbayev and his friends were killed during an exchange of fire with police in Shatoysky district.

"In the morning we went there, but the bodies of Vishan and the three other lads had already been loaded on to a military truck. The other lads’ families were also there. We identified Vishan, and the other families identified their sons. Then we had to sign the identification forms, and also a document which said that we wouldn’t commit any act of blood vengeance in connection with the deaths of our loved ones ," the man says. It should be noted that in Chechnya there still exists a custom of blood vengeance according to which the relatives of a slain man have the right to kill the slayer or his family.

"When we asked them to return the bodies to us so we could bury them, a senior policeman told us that the bodies would not be returned, but would be sent to Vladikavkaz for some kind of forensic tests. We went to Vladikavkaz, but were again refused. After lengthy negotiations, a military officer in Vladikavkaz told us that in order to get the bodies we would need to bring an authorization from the Chechen branch of the Federal Security Service (FSB). On February 20 we got the authorization, and that same night we brought the bodies back to Chechnya. Yesterday, all four lads were buried at local cemeteries," the source said.

The general view among local people is that the young men’s relatives were "lucky". "To be able to bury a loved one is a great blessing right now. To know where his grave is," says Sayd-Khasan, a 58-year-old resident of Grozny.

"In many cases, the bodies of guerrillas aren’t returned to their relatives, or money is demanded for them. That didn’t only happen during the early years of this war [the second Chechen war] – it still goes on now. For example, a few months ago a friend of mine paid the soldiers 10,000 roubles for the return of his son’s body. And he also thought he was very lucky."

An unnamed human rights defender said he believes that in this case the decision to return the bodies was taken because none of the young men was older than 18, and also because no policemen were killed in the shoot-out.

(Translation by DM)

(T)

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