13.2.2003 14:02 MSK
Federal troops kidnapping women in Chechnya
Cases of abductions of women by federal troops in Chechnya have recently become
more frequent. In one of such incidents that happened in the early hours
of January 14, 31-year-old Anzhela Shakhmurzaeva was taken away by Russian
soldiers. Armored personal carriers and two "Ural" trucks drove up to apartment
block no. 23 located near the Central Square in Grozny. Soldiers surrounded
the house and began to loot it. Having looted a storage room on the first
floor, the soldiers began to break doors of apartments, and ordered three young
men - Aslan Baisultanov, Aslan Muzaev and Khasan Usterkhanov - out onto
the street. When the wife of Usterkhanov rushed to his aid, the soldiers
beat her up. Upon hearing the noise and screams for help coming from the
street, Anzhela Shakhmurzaeva (the mother of two young children) went outside
and attempted to prevent the young men from being led off: the soldiers
did not let them go, and took Anzhela with them as well.
In the following two days, inhabitants of Grozny gathered downtown to voice
their protest. On January 15, a number of people marched toward the main
government building, but, as usual, they were not allowed to enter. After
breaking down the gate, some women got inside. There they were greeted by
a government official, Movsar Khamidov, who began to tell them about the
productive and successful work being done in search for kidnapped persons.
But despite all his assurances to look into the mentioned cases, the kidnapped
people were not only not let out that night, but up till now are being kept
in an unknown location.
A couple of days ago, Luiza Tsytsaeva (31) was abducted at the check- point near
Urus-Martan. Until December of last year, she along with her three children
had been staying in a tent camp in Ingushetia and a couple of weeks ago
had returned home to Chechnya.
On January 28, soldiers kidnapped from her home Seda Khurikova, a 25- year-old
resident of Urus-Martan. Neighbors maintain that more than 30 armed federal
soldiers surrounded her house. The soldiers, as always, did not bother to
explain the reason for the arrest. They put the woman in an armored personal
carrier and drove off in an unknown direction. On the same day, Seda's relatives
went to the local administration and commandant's office; however, officials
there denied any complicity in her arrest. The whereabouts of Seda are not
known to this day.
The fates of the people kidnapped vary: if they're lucky, relatives will
succeed in finding them, and after paying a ransom will bring them home,
whereas those who aren't as lucky ... On February 6, a sack with the body
of Ataga Abaeva, a female resident of the village of Novye abducted five
months ago, was found by accident, along with the severed head of her husband
Emin Abaev. According to those who found the woman's body, she had been
killed recently, as her corpse was still fresh. The body of the husband
could not be located.
Despite the mass burials, severed heads and disappearances without a trace
of those abducted, work continues in Chechnya on getting the people ready
for the constitutional referendum. No one has doubts as to the success of
the referendum, because it simply was not worth the effort to prepare a
population census without the involvement of the population itself. The
Chechens are saying that "the census is the only entertainment we have,
maybe we'll have a hearty laugh about the referendum too.