Memorial: Magomed Khambiyev compelled to surrender by taking hostages

The Memorial Human Rights Center denied the official version of the voluntarily surrender of Magomed Khambiyev, a known field commander from Aslan Maskhadov's closest circle and Defense Minister of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Magomed Khambiyev's surrender to Chechen security agencies controlled by the federal center came as a total surprise.

At the end of February, both units formally under Akhmad Kadyrov's control and the battalion of the Russian Defense Ministry's special forces formed of Chechens were drawn up in Gudermes, Memorial reports. Then all these units made for the mountainous Nozhay-Yurt district. The column numbered over 100 cars supported by armored vehicles and helicopters.

Mass detentions of relatives of Umar and Magomed Khambiyevs, who had occupied high positions in Aslan Maskhadov's government earlier, started on February 29 in the villages of Meskety, Benoy, and Turty-Khutor. Almost a half of Turty-Khutor residents were captured in such a way. Detentions of Khambiyev brothers' relatives went beyond the Nozhay-Yurt district. On March 1, two students of the Department of Medicine of the Chechen State University - Aslambek Khambiyev, a 19-year-old first-year student, and Shita Khambiyev, a sixth-year student, were taken away just from the class-room. Aslanbek Khambiyev was released on March 4. He was thrown away from a car in the village of Benoy. He was beaten and in a semiconscious state. The destiny of Shita Khambiyev remains unknown so far.

"The practice unheard-of before - in other Chechen settlements, Kadyrov's people detained and took away women related to Khambiyev brothers who had married and left native villages," read the materials presented by the Memorial Human Rights Center. According to the reports by officers of the Chechen Interior Ministry, 16 people were detained and conveyed to official places of detention, 5 women being among them. However, according to relatives and locals, the number of the detained people was larger: 40-200 people. Then the special operation itself against Magomed Khambiyev started. He received a demand through intermediaries to surrender immediately otherwise he was threatened with violence against his relatives. After it Magomed Khambiyev surrendered.

"Residents of Chechnya would not have understood and accepted if he had made the other choice - to pay for his freedom with freedom and life of his relatives would have meant to break unwritten laws and traditions. He was compelled to surrender. But the means look really embarrassing: hostage capture, threats, and blackmail. Such methods seem to be called terrorist", reads the statement by the organization.

Editors note: See also the article "Chechen separatist leader surrenders", "Student Aslanbek Khanbiyev released".