30/12/2003

Relatives of abducted Ingush resident seek human rights activists' help

On December 22, Ruslan A. Mutsolgov, a resident of the town of Karabulak, made a request to the Ingush office of the Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship, asking to help him in the search of his brother abducted by unknown people on December 18. We call your attention to the extracts from the statement Ruslan Mutsolgov handed in to the head of the Society's regional office in Ingushetia, Moscow Helsinki Group coordinator, Imran Ezhiev.

"On December 18, my brother, Bashir A. Mutsolgov, 1975, was coming back home after a meeting with our father. By the house a VAZ Niva car came to him. The car number plates were smeared with dirt but the region number - 26 - could be seen. Armed people in camouflage uniform and black masks came out of the car. They hit my brother in his stomach with a machine-gun butt, threw him into the car and went in the direction of the DPS (road and patrol service) post near the Karabulak city police department at a high speed. There the kidnappers were stopped by police officers. A middle-aged man came out of the car and showed a special pass of the regional operations headquarters. After that the officers let the car go, and it went away in the direction of the Rostov-Baku route. With great efforts, I managed to learn that the kidnapping had been made by the officers of the Ingush and Chechen departments and North Caucasian regional department of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). After the occurrence my brother was taken to the FSB department in the Republic of Ingushetia in the town of Magas. He spent the whole night in a cellar. The next day strangers in two cars took him to the Khankala settlement of Grozny, Chechnya, where he is right now. He is subjected to torture and beating. In such a way, they want to make him confess crimes that have nothing to do with him.

My brother's case is typical not only of the Ingush Republic but also of neighboring Chechnya.

My brother has worked at school after the graduation. He has been married, his daughter was born not long ago. He has never had previous convictions and has never been investigated.

I handed in applications about the kidnapping to the offices of public prosecutor of the Ingush Republic and of the Karabulak town and to the Karabulak regional interior department.

I believe in your help, in you personally and in the authority of your organization."

Source: Society for Russian-Chechen Friendship

http://2003.novayagazeta.ru/nomer/2003/94n/n94n-s11.shtml (tr.by M.L.)

Sensation or set up?

Last week, a sensational news was reported in the federal mass media: the chief of the 4th department (fight against kidnapping) of Daghestan ROBOP, police Lieutenant Colonel Imamutdin Temirbulatov being suspected of his participation in the abduction of 11-year old Dzhamal Gamidov, has been detained. 

I personally know Imamutdin Temirbulatov from his long-standing work, connected with freeing of hostages. I have reasons to consider that Imamutdin Temirbulatov's "case" of his participation in the kidnapping of this child has been fabricated. Temirbulatov more than once has been asked "to leave" from his post, to retire and was compromised, because officer Temirbulatov - was an inconvenient figure both for his direct superiors and for the bandits.  

Temirbulatov has been occupied already for a few years by the cases of kidnapping of 11-years old Dzhamal Gamidov, and also in Arjan Erkel's abduction, the manager of the Swiss mission "Doctors without Borders". As a result of his work on these cases, some grounds appeared that all those crimes were committed by one and the same bandit group. Moreover, Temirbulatov prepared, organized and conducted the detention of some bandits from this criminal group and actually was close to uncover the kidnapping of this 11-year old boy.

In the case of abduction of Arjan Erkel which has got international resonance, Temirbulatov reported personally to the minister of internal affairs of Daghestan. With his direct superiors he has extremely tense relations. Temirbulatov repeatedly charged his superiors with corruption and complicity to criminals.

I know, that there's no proof of Temirbulatov's participation in the kidnapping of this child, and I consider, that it's premature to make conclusions about his guilt.

Vyacheslav Izmailov, the military correspondent of Novaya Gazeta

About what kind of intrigues could become a reason to charge and to arrest Lieutenant Colonel Imamutdin Temirbulatov read in the nearest issues of Novoya Gazeta.

15.12.2003