Caucasus Times

9 August 2003

Who stood behind abduction of Eliza Katsayeva ?

The abducted girl is back home, but who stood behind the scene is not yet clear.

Abducted several days ago a 16-year-old local girl Eliza Katsayeva finally has been released August 6 and relish her freedom back home. The girl's relatives and neighbors believe the girl was abducted by Russian servicemen.

"Just yesterday I was watching TV news. Reporters told about some "unknown bandits" who abducted Eliza adding she was set free in a victorious "special task operation". I felt disgust hearing all that absurd," said Hedah, an angry 52-year-old local woman. "The folks are pretty sure those were Russian soldiers who took the girl away because they came on four armored military vehicles without license plates".

The girl was indeed taken away blindfolded and handcuffed in an armored personnel carrier. The girl told she could not see a thing. Since the vehicle kept bouncing over the potholes the girls guessed the abductors were detouring the main roads.

The abductors and their victim spent the night in the vehicle. The next morning they moved ahead in a car and after a while the car stopped and the girl was ordered to get out. She was left with 200 rubles somewhere nearby Komorovo, a village in Mozdok area of North Ossetia.

Eventually, she was transported to Chechnya by the Chechen police but before she had been checked- up in a hospital of Nalchik (Kabardino-Balkariya).

"Eliza is still in shock and does not want to talk about details," her mother says. "But she is sure that she was abducted by the "federal" agents (servicemen of the Russian federal troops). I am very grateful to our villagers, all inhabitants of our district, who kept on demanding to release my daughter. They were also at risk too, but nevertheless, supported us and have helped to set my daughter free".

Actually, many inhabitants of Achkhoi-Martan district believe that the possibility of mass defiance actions of the populace eventually has forced the Russian soldiers to release the abducted girl. "The militaries and the local authorities did not want the story attracted public notice so made everything as soon as possible to hush it up," said Abdul-Khamid, a 61-year-old local man of Samashki. "If the authorities had been so effective, they would have put an end to those frequent abductions in Chechnya".

Ruslan Adayev, Chechnya Caucasus Times