| Chechenpress Murders on the threshold of a polyclinic in Ingushetia The "Council of Non-governmental Organizations" reports that Russian servicemen brutally killed three inhabitants of Chechnya on 21 August at the local polyclinic in the Cossack settlement of Sleptsovskaya in Ingushetia's Sunzha district. According to the evidence from eye-witnesses, more than 20 soldiers in masks broke into the area of the polyclinic at about 5 p.m. According to the eyewitnesses, one of the young people which were standing in the street tried to get away quickly toward the adjancent market. Shouting "stop him", "catch him", the servicemen opened indiscriminate fire on him from automatic weapons. Then they ran up to the seriously wounded young man and finished him off with the butts of their automatic weapons. After this, the lifeless body of the young man was thrown into a white "Gazel" vehicle with Chechen licence plates that had come to the scene. During the same time other servicemen, disregarding the cries of the doctors and the patients, who scattered in panic, killed another young man of 18 - 19 years directly on the threshold of the polyclinic. They shot him in his legs an then shot him down with several shots from a pistol. The body of the third brutally maltreated young man was dragged from the doctor's office by his bound feet and thrown into the "Gazel" together with the previously killed young man. The doctors attempted to interfere with the arbitrariness of the servicemen, however, the latter drove [the killed young men] away accompanied by unquotable swearing and shooting into the air. The bandits screamed "Get out of the way! We are carrying out a special operation!". Several doctors haven't yet recovered from the shock they suffered yesterday. Another person who was beaten by the servicemen, Magomed Hasiyev, is located in the hospital of Sleptsovskaya. The doctors and eye-witnesses say that all of the attackers were Russian soldiers, but in their opinion the driver of the "Gazel" where the servicemen threw the killed and sized men, most probably was a local resident. The procuratorship of Ingushetia has initiated a criminal case about the murder and hostage-taking in Sleptsovskaya. The consequences will be seen. www.livechechnya.org 23.08.03 http://www.chechenpress.com/news/08_2003/2_23_08.shtml [Translation by N.S.] |