17:51, 2 December 2003

High-handedness of servicemen at Kavkaz checkpoint

On November 29, at about 3 p.m., Russian servicemen doing their duty at the Kavkaz checkpoint detained Salman Arkhiyev, a resident of the Urus-Martan district of Chechnya, without giving any explanations.

Witnesses say the servicemen made the young man get off the car, which was going from Chechnya to Ingushetia, and drove him away in an unknown direction.

People failed to ascertain what for and on what ground the servicemen detained Salman Arkhiyev.

The Kavkaz checkpoint, which is situated on the Rostov-Baku federal rout at the administrative border between Chechnya and Ingushetia, is talked about among the republican population as the most unexpected and dangerous one. Young men are periodically detained and beaten there; traffic along the road is often blocked off on various pretexts; to pass the checkpoint, drivers always have to pay a fee, which is much larger than in the other places.

Source: Caucasus Times Website