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Kidnapped Chechen
Girl Returns Home
July 6, 2003
The Associated Press ROSTOV-ON-DON, Southern Russia -- Prosecutors opened
a criminal investigation on Wednesday into the kidnapping of a 16-year-old
Chechen girl, who returned home four days after being seized by masked
gunmen in her native village, Interfax reported.
Elisa Katsayeva returned to the village of Samashki in western Chechnya
on Wednesday, a Chechen administration official said. The official said
that Katsayeva was returned home after an operation by
local authorities.
"It is still too early to talk about the involvement of specific individuals
in this crime," Chechen Deputy Prosecutor Said Pashayev was quoted as
saying.
Katsayeva's seizure late Saturday by unidentified masked men caused
several hundred residents of Samashki to block a federal highway for
four straight days, demanding her release.
Conflicting reports persisted over who her abductors were, with some
claiming the military or pro-Moscow authorities and others pointing
the finger at rebels. Local media reported that Katsayeva had been held
in nearby Nalchik and was released unharmed.
In Samashki, Katsayeva said her abductors were masked and spoke Russian
with no accent. They handcuffed her and shackled her legs and put her
in an *armored personnel carrier, she said.
On the second day, she was released into a field where she spent the
night and then found police in the morning, who took her to Nalchik,
she said.
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* This detail Russian media somehow "forget" to mention, Chechen fighters
don't in APC's. M.L.
http://www.lenta.ru/vojna/2003/08/06/eliza/ (translation by M.L.)
Freed Chechen girl described how she was kidnapped
The 16-yrs old inhabitant of the Chechen village of Samashki Elza Katsayeva
although still in shock shock, because of her kidnapping , already reported
some details of this incident.
The girl described that the kidnappers transported her with her eyes
covered and in handcuffs several timmes from place to place, and twenty-four
hours after the kidnapping they had left her on a shoulder of the road,
not far from the village of Komarovo in the Mozdok district, reports
RIAN.
Katsayeva flagged down a bus that was passing by. Since the girl was
without any documents, in her night gown, dirty, with traces of handcuffs
on her wrists, they detained her and delivered to the Mozdok RUVD to
establish her identity.
From there they sent Katasayeva to a children's hospital for examination
and treatment, and on Tuesday morning they transferred her to RUBOP
in Nalchik, where the data about the kidnapping of the girl has already
been known.
According to representatives of the MVD of Chechnya, "the health state
of the girl is satisfactory, she still hasn't recovered from shock,
but according to physicians, no traces of violence on her - has been
found".
from the previous report
http://lenta.ru/vojna/2003/08/06/girl/ (excerpted)
As reported to an information agency the head of the administration
of the Achkhoy-Martan district Ali Dalnayev, Katsayeva was found in
Nalchik, but since then she was delivered home by employees of the of
Achkhoy-Martan ROVD.
In this case Dalnayev did not elaborate, if Katsayeva was abducted by
thugs or was she detained for interrogation (dopros) by some representatives
of the law enforcing organs. "We will explain all the
circumstances of that incident, and also let us establish, if this was
a planned provocation by someone, or a crime comitted by thugs", emphasized
Dalnayev.
In turn, the representative of the staff of anti-terrorist operation
in the North Caucasus Ilya Shabalkin stated to Interfax that the federal
forces or local law enforcing organs were not participating in the disappearance
of Katsayeva.
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