Chechen security services
continue to arrest Chechens in Ingushetia
April 26th 2003 · Prague Watchdog
Timur Aliyev, North Caucasus
The Chechen security services still continue to arrest Chechen refugees in the
Republic of Ingushetia.
On April 24, in the town of Nazran, several plainclothesmen detained three Chechen
youths selling video equipment in the marketplace.
When two Ingush policemen tried to intervene, the men produced credentials from
the Urus-Martan District Command for the Fight Against Organized Crime (RUBOP).
According to eyewitnesses, the reason for arresting the boys was their possible
participation in the Wahhabi movement.
The three were forcibly driven away, but one was later released near the Kavkaz
checkpoint at the Chechen border.
According to nearby vendors, the youths actually were from Urus-Martan, and added
that they had seen these RUBOP men hanging around the marketplace two days prior
to the arrest.
The Ingush Ministry of Interior stated that the incident has not been reported.
What is even more disturbing is that these arrests are made in Ingushetia without
any coordination with local authorities, stated the Human Rights Watch. Especially
when Ingush president Murat Zyaikov met with Chechen human rights organizations
on April 18 and announced that it is essential for the Minister of Interior to
get such arrests under control.