Human rights lawyer Magomadov freedTimur Aliyev, North Caucasus - Makhmut Magomadov, the human rights lawyer who disappeared in Chechnya last month, is back home again, announced Ruslan Badalov, chairman of the Chechen National Salvation Committee.
Magomadov phoned Badalov on Saturday evening to tell him that he was home.
"He said that he’d been held only one night. According to him, he was arrested by mistake as they confused him with another Magomadov. But after verifying the discrepancy in their ages, he was released. However, the freed human rights defender decided to take no chances and left the republic and only returned to Chechnya last evening," said Badalov.
Nevertheless, representatives of the Chechen NGOs have cast doubt on this. "Evidently Magomadov was under threat and obliged to tell this particular story. Most likely he was arrested and only released after numerous appeals by international and human rights organizations."
Makhmut Magomadov disappeared in Grozny on January 20. He is a legal expert with the International Helsinki Federation. From 1996 to 1999 he occupied the post of Deputy Procurator General of the Chechen Republic and led an investigative team conducting inquiries into kidnappings and disappearances.
(T/E) RELATED ARTICLES:
· Renowned Chechen lawyer abducted in Grozny (PW, 21.1.2005)
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