Sokiryanskaya: kidnapping of Orlov and journalists was organized by the authorities of Ingushetia

Oleg Orlov, leader of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial", and three "Ren-TV" reporters were kidnapped and beaten in Ingushetia under direct order of the authorities, Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, representative of the HRC "Memorial" in Ingushetia, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to her story, it has become known, that prior to kidnapping of Mr Orlov and the journalists, the securities were removed away from the "Assa" Hotel. Oleg Orlov and the journalists lived in different floors of the hotel, but it was no problem for the kidnappers. Having arrived to the "Assa" late at night, they did not detain everybody - they knew precisely what they wanted.

According to Ms Sokiryanskaya, neither Oleg Orlov, nor the "Memorial" as a whole, have anything to do with the organization of the nation-wide oppositional meeting in Ingushetia.

Moreover, the representative office of the HRC "Memorial" in Nazran has addressed the organizers of the action asking them to coordinate it with the authorities, Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya has added.

We remind you that Arseniy Roginskiy, Chairman of the Board of the International Society "Memorial", has also treated the kidnapping of Oleg Orlov and the "Ren-TV" journalists to be an "intimidation action" and expressed the opinion that the incident has been, most likely, connected with the mass Ingushes' protest rally in Nazran.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported earlier that Oleg Orlov and journalists of the "Ren-TV" Channel - Artyom Vysotskiy, Stanislav Goryachev and Karen Sakhinov - were kidnapped last night by armed persons in masks from the "Assa" Hotel at about 23:20 p.m., and then beaten and at about 2:00 a.m. thrown out from the car into the field in the Sunzha District of Ingushetia.

The victims were deprived of their documents, communication facilities, notebook computers and video equipment. They also received threats of murder. Human rights activist Orlov has suffered less than the journalists.

So far, it is not known what the kidnappers' demands had been when they threatened to execute the victims.