HOSTAGE NINA DAVIDOVICH, CHAIMAN OF THE DRUZHBA SOCIETY, SET FREE IN
CHECHNYA


PYATIGORSK, 9 January.

/RIA Novosti correspondent Edgar Saroyan/.

On  Thursday representatives of the Stavropol territorial department of  the Russian Federal Security Service reported to journalists at a  press conference that chairman of the "Druzhba" (Friendship) society Nina Davydovich, a 57-year-old woman from Saint Petersburg was set  free in Chechnya.

Davydovich was kidnapped on 23 July 2002 in the vicinity of the Gorogorsky settlement. All that time kidnappers kept her in a pit and  treated cruelly demanding USD 1 million as a ransom.

She was set free as a result of joint actions of the Stavropol territorial Department of the Federal Security Service and officers of the Peace-keeping mission in the North Caucasus.

The organization headed by Davydovich was providing humanitarian aid to children's institutions in Chechnya.

The former hostage will be sent home after a period of  rehabilitation.