HRC "Memorial" treats arson of its office in Nazran as a terror act

Last night, a fire broke out in the office of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" on the second floor of a two-storey building in Nazran. PCs and furniture were destroyed by the fire, while no people were injured.

Oleg Orlov, a member of the board for the HRC "Memorial", has told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent there is no doubt that the fire occurred as a result of arson.

The version of the arson is confirmed by records from a video surveillance camera, Oleg Orlov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to him, the video surveillance camera recorded how at 3:35 a.m. Moscow time, a car drove up to the facade of the building and two men in masks came out of the car. They took a ladder, put it to the building and went up to a second-floor window, where the office of the HRC "Memorial" was located. The people tried to break the video surveillance camera, but failed. They shattered the window glass and entered the building.

The unidentified people had a canister with them, Oleg Orlov noted.

He has stated that the HRC "Memorial" treats the incident as a terror act. "The actions of the criminals clearly fall under the definition of the actions described in the law on counteracting terrorism. We associate the terror act with persecution and an attempt to suppress the activities of the HRC 'Memorial' in Ingushetia," the member of the board for the HRC "Memorial" reported.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.