Since the start of December the Russian military has been coming more and
more frequently to the Shali and Grozny regions in Chechnya. Mop-up operations,
secret killings, night raids by armored personnel carriers and other army
vehicles ... Take for example the village of Starye Atagi. A sweep-up operation
in the village has now entered into its 17th day. Since movements to and
from the village are restricted, it's difficult to obtain detailed accounts
of what is happening there. Workers of the Memorial rights group in Nazran
know little about the situation: 24 persons arrested, including 16-year-old
Esambayev. What will become of all these people?
Daud Ipulayev, who had fought the Afghan war, may consider himself lucky...
. He, a native of Belgatoi village in the Shali region, was among those rounded
up by Russian forces in the latest raid. During his war years in Afghanistan,
he had received an eye injury. On December 20 Russian troops converged on
the village of Belgatoi. They blocked all access to the village and began
house-to-house raids, taking away all males at the age of 14 to 60. Noticing
that Daud has no eye, the
"sweepers" immediately branded him a rebel fighter. Russian troops have a
reputation of spotting a Chechen militant by eye. They don't bother themselves
with looking for proofs: a 'strange' bruise could mean being a rebel fighter
for them. Unlike six persons arrested together with him, Ipulayev managed
to prove that the wound is of many years ago, and was released. The other
six were taken away to a commandant's office in the Shali region, which is
notorious for not letting people got into its custody ever return home ...
. Like it happened to Rizvan Kadyrov from Novye Atagi village. He was taken
away from his native village by an
armored personnel carrier. Having beaten his family, Russian soldiers took
away Rizvan allegedly to the Shali infamous commandant's office. However,
when his relatives rushed to Shali to make inquiries about Rizvan, they were
told no one of such name had been delivered to them.
Rizvan Kadyrov is not the only 'disappearance' in Novye Atagi. On December
5, an armored personnel carrier with hull number 304 pulled up to the Kasumovs'
house. The head of the Kasumovs' family is a former artist and a person held
in respect by his fellow villagers. When soldiers burst into the house and
tried to seize 23-year-old Akhmad, all the family rushed to his help. Standing
upon no ceremonies, soldiers beat Akhmad's father, pushed his sister back
with a rifle butt and
'captured the criminal'.
When Russian soldiers came to take away Khamzat Debizov, his five-year-old
niece came to his defense along all with adult family members. Seeing that
soldiers gagged her mother with a pistol, threatening to pull the trigger
if she tried to help Khamzat, the little girl rushed to her defense.
Our armed-to-the-teeth defenders of the Constitutional order beat the girl
so severely that her scream was heard in neighboring houses. Khamzat,
suspected of links to Chechen armed resistance groups, was brought to the
Shali commandant's office. What happened to him afterwards, and whether he
is still alive or not nobody knows ... .