Duba-Yurt residents abducted, held at Russian base in Khankala, then found dead

The residents of the village of Duba-Yurt, Chechnya's Shali district, who were found dead in the vicinity of the village of Serzhen-Yurt on April 9, were held at the Russian base in Khankala for some time.

"According to our information, the Shali district police department received information from the district prosecutor's office on March 29 that unidentified soldiers of federal forces, moving in several armored personnel carriers and UAZ cars without number plates, detained and took away in an unknown direction 8 civilians (men between the ages of 30 and 40) in Duba-Yurt on March 27. It was established in the course of a check that the above-mentioned people were held at the military base in Khankala. According to my data, officers of the Shali district law-enforcement agencies visited Khankala," an officer of the Chechen Interior Ministry said to the Caucasian Knot correspondent. "On April 9, the locals detained in Duba-Yurt: Bay-Ali, Idris and Sharip Elmurzayev, Isa and Khusim Khadzhimuradov, Apti Murtazov, Lechi Shoipov, and Zelimkhan Osmayev were found dead in the vicinity of Serzhen-Yurt. The body of another man, not identified at that moment, was found at the same place. He has been identified. He is Khasan Abdulmezhidov, a native of Duba-Yurt who lived in the Oktyabrsky district of Grozny. He was taken by servicemen in masks from his house in Grozny on the night of April 1-2."

The Prosecutor's Office of the Chechen Republic refused to give any comments on the matter.

Editors note: See also the article "Bodies of lynched people found in Chechnya".