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“Mopping-up” operation in Mesker-Yurt, Germenchuk, Shali completed

Ruslan Isayev, North Caucasus – The “mopping-up” operation in the town of Shali and villages of Mesker-Yurt and Germenchuk, southeast of the capital Grozny, was completed on Monday. The settlements were sealed off on February 5 with the ban on civilian transport and individuals to enter and leave the place.

Mesker-Yurt residents say Russian soldiers detained four people in the village. Two of them were ransomed by their parents for some money on the fifth day after the detention. Bearing traces of severe beating, the released men said soldiers tortured them by electric shocks. As a result, both of them are in a serious condition in the Nazran hospital, Ingushetia. The whereabouts of the other two detained people remains unknown.

In Shali, several students were beaten in the centre of the town on the first day of the “mopping-up” operation. As usual, the students were waiting at a bus stop for their bus to Grozny when Russian soldiers came and started to detain some males among the students. The soldiers even beat the girls who were trying to prevent the illegal detentions.

The “mopping-up” operation was accompanied by large-scale robberies in houses and acts of humiliation against local people. All in all, one resident died when he offered resistance during the detentions.

Even Serzhen-Yurt administration chief Shakhid Chamayev was not allowed to enter Shali on February 8, though he had a permit issued by the military commander of the Shali district. Mr Chamayev was driving a pregnant woman from Serzhen-Yurt and because the car was not allowed to continue, the women delivered her child at home, with difficulties and without qualified medical help. The baby died on the next day.

A number of people from the affected town and two villages are determined to file a complaint to the republican prosecutor’s office. However, they do not believe much that the Russian soldiers who are responsible for the robberies and violence against civilians will be brought to justice.