Mass graves with maimed bodies discovered in Chechnya

Interfax. Sunday, Apr. 6, 2003, 12:02 PM Moscow Time

GROZNY. April 6 (Interfax) - Three mass graves with maimed male bodies have been discovered in Chechnya in the past 24 hours. Two of the mass graves were on the southern outskirts of the village of Emasuli, the Nadterechny Police Department has told Interfax. The bodies, beheaded and with cut-off arms, were stacked in shallow grave sites covered with soil. No documents were found. Two other bodies were discovered buried in Grozny's Staropromyslovsky district near the village of Solyonaya Balka. The dead men's heads were wrapped in black plastic bags. Both of them were strangled and their teeth were knocked out. The local prosecutor's offices have started criminal investigations. No theories of the crimes have been announced yet.