Details of mass beating of Chechens in Nalchik

A mass beating of students of the Chechen nationality with the use of cold steel took place in Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria, on September 17.

As a correspondent of the agency reports, the number of the attackers, according to the witnesses, came to 300 people, most of them being young men between the ages of 18 and 25.

As Alibek Dikiyev, one of the victims studying in his second year at the medical department of the State University of Kabardino-Balkaria, evidences, he was beaten up to the loss of consciousness and came to his senses only at the police department, behind bars. Then police officers began to interrogate him and his beaten friends that had been conveyed to the department along with him. According to Dikiyev, "the policemen were interested above all whether we put in an application on beating to the police. We felt very bad and were unable to any red tape. And we signed the papers the policemen put in front of us so that they let us go quicker. We said we would not write any applications. In the morning, coming to consciousness a little, we read copies of the protocols that we had in our hands and were very surprised. As it was clear from the text, we had used unprintable words in a public place, aggressively responded to rebukes of the people around, and in that way we had broken a public order. As a result we were imposed fine of 500 rubles."

Similar cased happened in other places of the town. The number of the attackers in all the cases was several times more than that of the people being beaten.

But the largest number of students of the Chechen nationality, about 20-25 people, were beaten in Hospice 1 of the economic and law lyceum. Police officers, who had arrived after a while, took 28 people to the 2nd interior department.

Six minors were released at once, the other students were offered to sign interrogation protocols, which resembled very much the one Alibek Dikiyev mentioned in his description.

The total number of people seriously suffered (having a concussion of the brain, fractures and other severe body injuries) is 54 people.

All the victims have a strong conviction that this action was thoroughly planned in advance and carried out by certain forces that trying to put disunity into the relations of the people of Chechnya and Kabardino-Balkaria.