19:14, 13 May 2004

Residents of Chechen village hold protest rally

Ramzan Shoipov, a 30-year-old local resident, was detained and taken away in an unknown direction by officers of Russian security agencies in the village of Chiri-Yurt, Chechnya's Shali district, on May 8. The servicemen arrived at the village in cars without number plates. They beat the man's wife who tried to clear up why and where they were taking her husband. The servicemen conducted "address purges" in nearby houses, beating and insulting people.

Unwarranted searches were conducted in the houses of the Aydamirov and Astamirov families. An aged master (b. 1923) of one of these houses was beaten.
On May 10 and 11, residents of the Chiri-Yurt village blocked the road leading from Grozny to the Shatoy district. They demanded that the authorities should immediately release Ramzan Shoipov and stop the acts of terror against civilians committed by the military men.

Author: Sultan Abubakarov, CK correspondent

Source: Caucasian Knot