13:25, 28 May 2004

2,500 Chechen residents declared abducted, missing

Twice a month, officers of the Chechen military prosecutor's office receive residents of the Chechen republic having complaints about violations of their rights by federal soldiers. The reception is conducted in the office of the Committee to Secure Constitutional Rights of the Residents of Chechnya. However these problems have been solved very inertly lately, visitors say. And on May 20, prosecutors did not come to meet with people at all, and the reception was conducted by the Committee's staff. Over 30 people came to the office that day. The human rights activists gave them appropriate legal advice, said Omar-Pasha Khakimov, the Committee's member. By the Committee's statute, this department is independent and not accountable to any state body or official in the field of securing Chechen residents' constitutional rights. The Committee has a file for every missing person, Mr Khakimov said. Over 2.5 thousand people have been declared abducted of missing in Chechnya. The whereabouts of more than 600 of them have already been established.

Source: Grozny-Inform News Agency (Chechnya)